By Leslie Dinkin

Minutes from the Middle School, 22 students taking the late shuttle bus from the Upper School Feb. 25 felt an alarming jolt.

“At first, I though we were going over the curb, until I saw the bumper from the other car under the tire of the bus,” David Hartmeier ’14 said. “It was a fast jolt and then it was finished.”  

At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Friday, a Harvard-Westlake school bus was involved in a collision with a silver Toyota Camry while turning right onto Lexington Drive off Benedict Canyon. No one appeared to be hurt. The bus, driven by Jabbar Matlock who normally drives the Middle School Hancock Park route, appeared to have suffered minimal damage but the front of the Camry was dented, Rebecca Moretti ’13 said.   

  “I was sitting in my seat on the bus and then the bus sort of jarred back and forth for a second,” Alex Haney ’14 said. “It felt like we went on the curb and there was a loud screeching noise.”

 Minutes after the accident, three police cars and a fire truck arrived on the scene. A few firefighters then came onto the bus and asked if the passengers were all right. Anna Wittenberg ’13 said no one was injured.

 The officers asked the students aboard the bus to write down their names, ages, phone numbers, dates of birth and addresses. Most of the students were 9th graders, but there were a few 10th and 11th graders, Moretti said.

 The students remained on the bus until officers said they could leave. 

 “I was hungry, cold, and annoyed,” Nick Wittbrodt ’14 said. “I could not wait to get off.”

 At 7:30 p.m. the passengers were transferred to a waiting school bus that took them to the Middle School where they were released to their parents.

“I was so happy that we were finally going home,” Mackenzie Howe ’14 said. “It was ridiculous that we had to wait for so long.”