AKRON, Ohio — An Ohio Department of Public Safety report blames an 18-wheeler driver for following too closely in traffic for the deadly Nov. 14 Ohio charter bus crash that killed three high school students and three adults on Interstate 70 in Licking County.
The report, released on Nov. 28 along with police body camera footage from the scene, says that a 2019 semi failed to slow down and struck another vehicle before hitting the charter bus carrying students from Tuscarawas Valley Middle-High School.
None of the drivers involved have been found to be distracted or under the influence, the report notes. The driver of the semi passed a drug and alcohol test.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said numerous police and fire departments responded to the scene shortly after the crash on westbound Interstate 70 about 26 miles east of Columbus. Among them were some Gahanna officers who were heading to a training event when they learned of the accident and went directly to the scene.
She said there was “conflicting information” about the sequence of events that led to the chain-reaction crash, which also involved an SUV and a semi-truck. The Pioneer Trails charter bus was carrying students and chaperones from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio, who were headed to perform at an educational conference.
Three passengers on the bus, which was carrying a driver and 54 students and chaperones, were pronounced dead at the scene, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. They were identified as John W. Mosely, 18, of Mineral City; Jeffery D. Worrell, 18, of Bolivar; and Katelyn N. Owens, 15, of Mineral City.
The three-day educational conference, billed as “the second-largest education convention in the nation,” canceled its final day after organizers learned of the crash.
Speaking on the night of Nov. 14 at a community prayer vigil, Tuscarawas Valley Superintendent Derek Varansky described the day as one of the darkest days in the district’s history and the worst day in his life. He said the community was looking to honor those who died and “just lift up those families, those students on the bus who survived and will live with that traumatic experience and to our entire district for the dark days, week, months to come.”
Varansky said classes were held on Nov. 15 because district officials did not want any students home by themselves. Noting it wouldn’t be “a typical school day,” he said counselors and support staff from other community organizations would be at the schools to offer assistance.
All three people in one of the passenger vehicles involved — a teacher and two parent chaperones for the student trip — were also pronounced dead at the scene. They were identified as high school teacher Dave Kennat, 56, of Navarre; Kristy Gaynor, 39, of Zoar, and Shannon Wigfield, 45, of Bolivar.
Wigfield also served as a teacher at Buckeye Career Center, which offers career-technical education for students as well as adult education courses. The center said she was in her 24th year of teaching there and was an English language arts instructor who “will be remembered for her loving smile and always positive attitude.”
The driver of the other passenger vehicle was also taken to a hospital. Of the drivers of the commercial vehicles involved, one was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening and the other was treated at the scene, the highway patrol said.
Both sides of Interstate 70 were closed for several hours after the crash, creating major traffic delays in the area. The eastbound lanes reopened in the afternoon hours of Nov. 14, while the westbound lanes reopened early on Nov. 15. Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers and state Transportation Department workers were at the crash site on Nov. 15, working in the highway’s westbound shoulder. The interstate remained open in both directions.
Tori Wilson, a sophomore at the school who was sitting toward the back of the bus when it was hit, told WBNS-TV she overheard someone talking about a fire and they needed to get out, but she was struggling because she was stuck.
“I had a kid like over top of me having a seizure and not moving… unresponsive,” she said. “I had my friend beside me to my right, that was sitting right to where I was, where I was gonna sit, but she said that I could have the inside towards the window. And all I could see was her head and the rest was all crushed underneath seats.”
Wilson said that while the bus was burning, the junior high band director kept running back onto the vehicle, grabbing students and pulling them to safety.
“The kid behind me was complaining (about) his legs and I was trying to get out, but like I didn’t wanna crush him because anytime I moved, the seats moved cause I was trying to get out and then he starts like screaming in pain,” Wilson said. “The kid that was on the far right of the three, he was in the middle of the aisle and not moving.”
Eventually, she pulled herself out of a window and escaped.
The crash remains under investigation, with the National Transportation Safety Board expected to issue its findings within weeks.
Below is police body camera footage from the scene.
The Trucker Staff contributed to this report.
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