No students were injured when a car collided with the Mt. Blue Regional School District school bus they were riding Tuesday afternoon in New Sharon, police said.

Joshua Dunham, of Starks, struck the Bluebird bus nearly head-on as he was driving a friend’s Volkswagen Jetta east on Starks Road, Cpl. Andrew Morgan, of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, said Wednesday.

Alisha Durrell was driving the Bluebird school bus carrying high school and middle school students, traveling west on Stark Road, which is Route 134. Dunham struck the driver’s side of the bus when the vehicles met at the top of a hill on a sharp a corner, Morgan said.

According to Morgan, Dunham was going too fast for icy road conditions and lost control at the top of the hill, then sideswiped the entire length of the school bus.

The vehicle Dunham was driving was destroyed in the accident and a wheel of the school bus was dislodged.

Dunham was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for treatment of back pain, Morgan said.

Advertisement

A second bus retrieved the students from the accident scene and brought them home. Morgan said the students did not seem shaken up.

Morgan was assisted at the scene by Franklin County Cpl. Kevin Hartley. New Sharon’s Fire and Rescue and NorthStar EMS responded to the accident.

Lauren Abbate — 861-9252

labbate@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate

Comments are no longer available on this story