At least 16 were injured Saturday night, after a tractor-trailer ran a red light and slammed into a bus carrying high school hockey players in Warsaw, Indiana, according to law enforcement officials.
In a press release Sunday, the Warsaw Police Department said it received reports of a semi-truck speeding excessively and swerving into other lanes.
According to the students’ high school, Saint Ignatius College Prep, there were 23 students on the bus, with 16 being injured. Three students were critically injured and required surgery, the school said.
The students ranged between the ages of 14 and 17 years old, with most of them being 15 years old, police said. The students were traveling from Chicago for a weekend hockey tournament. Warsaw is about 120 miles south of Chicago.
“The Saint Ignatius Wolfpack Hockey Club says, ‘we will get through this together.’ Our thoughts, prayers, and heartfelt concern are with them,” the school’s president John Chandler and director of communications Kristyn Hartman said in a statement on the school’s website.
First responders investigate the scene of a overturned school bus in Warsaw, Ind., Nov. 12, 2022.
News Now Warsaw Radio
First responders investigate the scene of a overturned school bus in Warsaw, Ind., Nov. 12, 2022.
News Now Warsaw Radio
Police arrested the suspected semi-truck driver, identified as 58-year-old Victor Santos from Brooklyn, New York, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Authorities said they smelled alcohol on the suspect when they arrived and noticed he was slurring his words. Santos reportedly failed a field sobriety test, according to Warsaw police.
Police are currently investigating the crash and continuing to hold the suspect in custody due to pending drunk driving charges.