Student involved in Chester Co. bus crash speaks about his experience
HENDERSON, Tenn. — In a followup on the bus crash involving a Chester County school bus last Friday, WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News spoke with a student who was on the overturned bus as well as school officials about what they are doing to help the students recover.
The weekend has ended and students returned to school Monday morning.
“It happened really fast, but it went slow,” said Grant Matthews, a 17-year-old student who was on the bus. “It was kind of like you didn’t know if it was real or not.”
Matthews said he didn’t suffer any major injuries. “My chest just was hurting a little bit so they went ahead and took me to the hospital as a precaution.”
Superintendent Troy Kilzer said out of 43 students involved only two remain in the hospital, a girl and a boy.
“I visited with them last night,” Kilzer said. “Their recovery is going to be a long one. It’s going to be slow, but their family, they have a wonderful, optimistic spirit.”
School officials said counseling services will be provided Monday and Tuesday if needed for students and faculty to express their feelings and emotions following Friday’s crash.
“We’ve also asked our local pastors to be involved in this event and from Nashville we have a resource crisis counseling that is provided,” Kilzer said.
The two chaperones, Jeff Lewis and Celia Hunt, did not have to stay at the hospital overnight. Kilzer said he hasn’t spoken with Christina Mathis, the driver, but said he talked to her husband over the weekend.
“In my conversation with him, he had shared that his wife is sore but not any injuries other than soreness,” Kilzer said.
Fortunately, Grant was not seriously injured, so he and other students made sure those who were hurt were OK.
“When we were in the hospital, the ones of us who were up and weren’t hurt were going around and seeing people in their rooms and talking to them,” Grant said.
Superintendent Kilzer said he isn’t sure how many of the 41 students involved were back in school Monday.
