Parents following school bus on field trip capture deadly collision on dashcam video

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) – Parents of a middle school student say they witnessed Friday’s deadly school bus crash in Tennessee.

According to Xaviel and Rosalee Lugo, their eighth-grader, Xelani, was excited to be on a field trip with her class heading to the Greenpower USA Toyota Hub City Grand Prix.

Xelani and her classmates from Kenwood Middle School in Clarksville were on their way to race an electric car they’d spent all year building from the ground up when tragedy struck.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said the Kenwood Middle School bus collided with a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck and another vehicle in Carroll County.

More than 20 students were on the bus along with four teachers at the time of the crash, with two students not surviving.

Authorities say the bus crashed head-on into a dump truck and then a Chevy Trailblazer. (Source: WSMV)

From inside the bus, Xelani says it took a second for her to make sense of what had just happened.

“People were crying. It was loud. It was chaotic,” she said. “The people in the back just thought that this was just a minor crash. They were telling everybody, ‘Just be calm.’ They didn’t know how bad the front was, but I could see from where I was standing that people were slumped over. There was blood on the floor.”

The Lugos said they were joining the class for the field trip that day and were following the bus on Highway 70 when the collision occurred.

“I didn’t initially see the dump truck that was coming, and then it’s just like, you heard the sound, and then you saw like a fireball kind of happen,” Xaviel Lugo said.

Both parents immediately jumped into action and started pulling kids out of the bus before they even knew if their own daughter was OK.

They say one of the teachers on board, Mr. Winn, was helping, too, even though he was injured. They say he refused to get off the bus himself until all the kids were out.

“He was bleeding and he could hardly see,” Xaviel said. “He said he couldn’t see very much, but he was like, ‘Get the kids, get the kids.’”

After the evacuation, Xelani says it was chaos.

“The whole front of my face was hurting,” she said. “The back of my head and the top of my head were hurting. Sirens were going off. People were screaming and crying. There were people on the ground that weren’t moving.”

Xelani was airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital along with several of her classmates. She was diagnosed with a head injury and was released late Friday night.

Montgomery County leaders sent their condolences to the families who lost a child and to those who were injured.

“Please join me in prayer for the families and everyone impacted by this tragic event,” Montgomery County Commissioner David Shelton said. “May the Lord of all creation be with them, and may we all comfort those who need it.”

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the investigation into the crash remains ongoing.

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