Mom of 2 children injured in fatal crash involving school van says driver is a hero
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) — The mother of two children injured in a fatal crash involving their school van is calling the driver of the van a hero.
The March 20 crash in Dunbar Township sent van driver Rich Watson and three elementary students to the hospital. The other driver, who police said was speeding and drinking, was killed in the head-on crash.
Dawn Siple said it was an afternoon just like any other during the week. She was at home waiting for her two boys, Tristyn and Jayden, to walk through the door after school when she got a text saying an SUV driver hit her kids' school van on Furnace Hill Road.
"I couldn't even think," she said. "Thank God my sister came home early from work that day because I don't know what I would've done."
When she arrived, she saw her youngest, 7-year-old Tristyn, standing outside the van. He was bruised, sore and had a gash above his eye. His older brother, 10-year-old Jayden, was already in the ambulance.
"I rode with him from the ambulance to the airport for him to get lifted off to the hospital," the boy's mother said.
Jayden was flown to UPMC Children's Hospital after he suffered a temporal fracture, a concussion, a large cut to his head, a laceration to his spleen and a sprained ankle.
"He has to go to therapy for the concussion, and I have at least seven doctor's appointments right now in Pittsburgh," Dawn said.
Jayden is home and could return to school as early as next week, while his brother returned to the classroom on Tuesday. Their mom said that is possible because of Watson, who she said is a hero.
"He treats my boys and anybody he drives like his own family," she said.
She added that her boys have been asking a lot about their driver, who they also call a hero. Dawn says they've made him get-well cards and have asked to visit him when he gets out of the hospital.
