Bus Carrying Team To High School Volleyball Game Crashes
GRAYSLAKE, Ill. (STMW) - A small bus filled with the Libertyville High School volleyball players on their way to a game collided with a pickup in Grayslake Saturday morning, leaving eleven girls hospitalized with minor injuries.
At 7:41 a.m. the coach was driving the bus northbound on Illinois 83 when, at Washington Street, the bus and a southbound pickup truck crashed as one of the vehicles tried to turn, according to Grayslake Police Sgt. Scott Heimos.
The players and one coach were on their way to Woodstock for a game when the wreck occurred.
The bus spun around and flipped on its side, but did not overturn. The girls exited by a rear emergency door and were all conscious and walking around when police got to the scene, the sergeant said.
The eleven girls were taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville and Northwestern medical center in Grayslake, said the sergeant. No one had serious injuries.
Their coach, a man, was not hurt and neither was the man who was the sole occupant so the pickup truck.
It was not immediately known who was at fault and no citations have been issued yet.
"They both had the green light,'' Heimos said. "Somebody turned left in front of somebody.
The front of the bus was "destroyed'' and the front end of the pickup sustained "massive'' front end damage. Both had to be towed from the scene.
Traffic was able to get past the accident but Washington was closed for about an hour between Lake and Illinois 83.
At 9:30 a.m., the accident site was cleared after both vehicles were towed from the scene Heimos said.
It was sunny and clear at the time of the crash and drugs, alcohol and speeding were not thought to be factors. The speed limit is 35 mph there, the sergeant said.
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