At 12:23 p.m. Friday, a St. Mary’s County public school bus crashed into a tractor-trailer on Route 235 in front of Dean Lumber in Hollywood.
Both drivers were injured. It took volunteer firefighters 15 minutes to free the driver of the bus. The driver of the tractor-trailer lost consciousness in the crash, but was awake and alert when rescue personnel arrived.
A Maryland State Police helicopter took the bus driver, Kenneth Joseph Garner, 35, of Mechanicsville, to Prince Georges County Hospital in serious but stable condition.
The truck driver, Charles Calvin Holland, Jr., 51, of Windsor Mill, and the only other occupant of the bus, a driver’s aid, Mary Alice Gill, 45, of Dameron, were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Maryland State Police, Leonardtown barrack reports Garner was heading north on Route 235, traveling behind the tractor-trailer, which was hauling building supplies. The truck slowed to turn into Dean Lumber and was struck from behind by the school bus, which failed to slow down, police say.
Northbound 235 was immediately closed after the crash, and traffic on the southbound lanes was only crawling past as of 12:50 p.m.
St. Mary’s County school district officials responded to the scene. The bus was numbered 803.
See slideshow below for pictures from the scene.