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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 4 december 2018

1 child dead, 45 people hurt in Arkansas charter bus crash

By JILL BLEED returned phone calls and
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A emails seeking comment.
third grader was killed and At a news conference in
at least 45 people were in- Memphis Monday after-
jured when a charter bus noon, Nickalous Manning,
carrying youth football area superintendent of As-
players from Tennessee pire Public Schools, said a
rolled off an interstate and third grader from an Aspire
overturned before sunrise charter school died in the
Monday in central Arkan- crash. He did not reveal the
sas, authorities said. child's name.
Arkansas State Police said "When we talked to team-
the bus crashed along In- mates here, you saw on
terstate 30 near Benton, their faces about what that
about 25 miles (40 kilo- young person meant to
meters) southwest of Little them, the impact that he
Rock. Police said most of had on the school com-
the injured were children munity," Manning said. "This
and that they were taken is going to be a loss that's
to hospitals in Little Rock going to be hard to heal
and Benton. from."
The elementary-school age Students from five Achieve-
children from the Orange ment School District facili-
Mound Youth Associa- ties in Memphis were also
tion in southeast Memphis on the bus, according to
were returning home after district spokesman Bobby
playing in a tournament in White.
the Dallas area over the Authorities haven't talked
weekend, according to about the cause of the
Memphis TV station WMC. crash that happened un-
Orange Mound is a histori- der the cloak of darkness.
cally black neighborhood The bus driver told state Employees from a wrecker service work to remove a charter bus from a roadside ditch Monday,
that unites around its highly police that she lost con- Dec. 3, 2018, after it crashed alongside Interstate 30 near Benton, Ark.
competitive youth football trol. The heavily damaged Associated Press
program. bus came to a rest after
One of half a dozen adults tumbling down a steep Saline Memorial Hospital nesses flourished there un- the time of the crash. He
on the bus, Damous Hai- embankment next to the admitted 13 injured adults til desegregation enabled was convicted in March
ley, said the players from crook of a sharp bend on and children, spokeswom- residents to live elsewhere. this year on six counts of
10 Orange Mound Youth an off-ramp. an Rebecca Jones said. Chronic disinvestment criminally negligent homi-
Association football teams Dr. Todd Maxson, surgeon They were treated for cuts, brought widespread crime cide, 11 counts of reckless
had been playing in all-star in chief and trauma medi- bruises and some orthope- and poverty. aggravated assault and
squads. He told The Com- cal director at Arkansas dic injuries then released. One resident, Carlos Mor- seven counts of assault.q
mercial Appeal newspaper Children's Hospital in Little The University of Arkansas for gan, told The Associated
that the bus swerved then Rock, said 22 of the 26 Medical Sciences received Press that the youth football
flipped "about 15 or 20 children aged 9 to 13 who one adult patient who has program is vital in a neigh-
times," before landing on its were admitted to the facil- not been discharged. A borhood where youths can
side at the foot of an em- ity were released by late hospital spokeswoman said so easily be lured into drugs
bankment. Monday afternoon. He said she couldn't provide any and crime. "It helps keep
"When the bus started flip- the four remaining children details, citing privacy laws. kids out of trouble," said
ping, the kids were holler- were stable and expected It is unclear if seat belts Morgan, who also played
ing, and we were trying to to fully recover from their were provided. Lawmak- on traveling football
calm them down," he said injuries. ers in Tennessee tried but squads in his youth. It "gives
in an interview from Saline Maxson said some of the failed to introduce regula- kids opportunity and brings
Memorial Hospital, where children suffered injuries tions in 2017 requiring seat the community together,"
he was treated for injuries to to the brain or other inter- belts in new school buses. he said. A speeding bus
his right side and leg. "I was nal organs, while others The bus in Monday's crash filled with school children
holding on, trying to make suffered cuts and broken was a charter bus. crashed in Chattanooga,
sure I didn't get thrown out." bones. He said two of the Orange Mound was cre- Tennessee, in November
Teams and coaches affiliat- kids underwent emergency ated after the Civil War by 2016, leaving six students
ed with the Orange Mound operations and were sta- and for African-Americans, dead. Prosecutors said the
Youth Association have not ble. and black-owned busi- driver was on the phone at