Soft Landing In Bus Crash

A bus plunged through the stone wall of a bridge Thursday and fell 28 feet, crashing through the roof of a building used to store mattresses.

Seven people were hurt in the accident, only one seriously enough to be admitted to a hospital, said Carthage Police Sgt. Doug Dickey.

"God's watching out for these people," he said.

Ken Smith ran to the scene to help after watching the accident from his window at Leggett & Platt Inc.'s quality assurance offices.

"It was just like in that movie Speed," he said.

The bus driver, Charles Storts, 63, of Kansas City, was charged with careless and imprudent driving.

Storts and six passengers were on a bus headed from Kansas City to Springfield around 4:30 p.m. Thursday when Storts reached for a cup of coffee, Dickey said.

The bus hit the guardrail on the east side as it approached the bridge that carries Missouri 96 traffic over railroad tracks, Dickey said. The driver then overcorrected, and the bus went across to the other lane before crashing through the bridge and falling to the ground, striking the Leggett & Platt storage building. The bus landed on its side, Dickey said.

Some of the seats had been ripped from the floor and a pole that was part of the storage building was rammed through a window in about the middle of the bus, Dickey said.

One passenger was treated for minor injuries at the scene and five others, including Storts, were treated and released from McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage, Dickey said.

Another passenger, Dorothy Garrigan, 74, of Springfield was taken to St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin with head injuries, Dickey said. The hospital would not release her condition.

Missouri Route 96 was closed for about three hours while wooden barriers were put in place and the bridge was checked for damage. About 60 feet of railing was damaged in the accident, and crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation put up a temporary wooden barrier.