Cottonwood, Minnesota bus crash

Last updated
Cottonwood bus crash
USA Minnesota location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Crash site
Crash site (Minnesota)
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Crash site
Crash site (the United States)
Cottonwood, Minnesota bus crash
Details
DateFebruary 19, 2008
3:25pm (CST)
Location Cottonwood, Minnesota
CountryUnited States
Line School bus
Operator Palmer Bus Service
OwnerPalmer Bus Service
Incident typeBus crash
CauseA minivan ran a stop sign colliding with a school bus, causing the school bus to roll onto another vehicle.
Statistics
Bus1, 1999 International School Bus
Vehicles1, 1998 Plymouth Voyager minivan; 1, 2007 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck
Passengers28 passengers, 3 drivers
Deaths4
Injured17

The Cottonwood bus crash occurred on the afternoon of February 19, 2008 that involved a school bus carrying 28 students from Lakeview Public Schools near Cottonwood in southwestern Minnesota, United States. The bus was struck on its passenger side by a minivan that drove through a stop sign, which caused the bus to fall over onto a pickup truck, killing four students and injuring 17.

Contents

The crash gained significant national coverage at the time and further fueled the immigration debate in the United States, due to the minivan driver's illegal immigration status. [1] The driver, Olga Franco del Cid, was later found to have entered the country illegally and using a false name. She was convicted on August 24, 2008 on all 24 counts related to the crash and sentenced to 12 years in prison. After serving eight years of her sentence, she was released and deported from the United States in 2016. In 2019, Franco del Cid was arrested for re-entering the country illegally and sentenced to another two years in prison. She will be deported when her sentence is completed. [2]

This was the deadliest school-bus related crash to occur in the state since 1997, when four students were killed in a crash in Monticello. [3]

Background

Minnesota State Highway 23 is a two-lane state highway that travels through Cottonwood and is considered a main artery throughout southwest Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) classifies MN 23 as a high-volume road and about 4,000 vehicles travel between the 15-mile stretch from Cottonwood to Marshall every day.

Lyon County Road 24 is a rural two-lane county highway that travels just outside of Cottonwood and intersects with MN 23 at an at-grade crossing. According to records from MnDOT, there had been no major crashes at that intersection in the decade preceding the crash, only some minor incidents were reported which indicated that the intersection was not a high-risk, high-accident rate intersection. [4]

The Lakeview Public School district includes students living in the communities of Cottonwood and nearby Wood Lake in two separate counties of southwestern Minnesota. [5] The district at the time had approximately 585 students in grades K–12. [6]

Incident

At approximately 3:25 pm local time, a school bus was traveling southbound on Highway 23 carrying 28 students home from school. [7] [8] A Plymouth Voyager minivan, driven by Olga Franco del Cid, was traveling eastbound on County Road 24 at around 50 mph when she drove through a stop sign at the intersection and struck the school bus on its passenger's side. [9] [10] The impact of the crash caused the bus to turn clockwise so it was sitting across Highway 23 when it was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. The pickup truck was driving northbound on Highway 23 and hit the bus on its driver's side which caused the bus to turn counter-clockwise and fall onto the pickup. [11]

According to the Minnesota State Patrol report, the roadway near the accident site is generally flat and the view from the approaches to the intersection on County Road 24 and Highway 23 were clear and unobstructed. The traffic control at this intersection consisted of stop signs on County Road 24 with Highway 23 having the right of way. At the time of the accident, the weather was clear, cold, and partly cloudy with no snow or ice conditions. [12]

As a result of the crash, 17 people were injured, and four were killed. The driver of the pickup only received minor injuries. [13] Several were critically injured and many had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. [14] [15] Two of the students that were killed were brothers, a third student was the daughter of a teacher at Lakeview School, and a fourth was the son of a former teacher. [6]

Emergency response

Emergency services and medical personnel arrived on the scene within minutes of the crash. The first 9-1-1 call came in at 3:33 pm and the Lyon County Sheriff's Office immediately dispatched the Cottonwood Fire and Ambulance services to the crash. At 3:50 pm the first North Memorial Air Care helicopter arrived on scene, and at 3:55 pm North Memorial asked for three additional helicopters to the scene and were en route. Soon after, the Cottonwood EMS was en route to the Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center. [9] One of the first people to arrive on the scene was the off-duty fire chief of nearby Marshall who happened to be traveling in the area. [5]

On that day, 27 different emergency agencies or organizations were part of the rescue efforts including ambulance, state patrol, fire, police, and air care personnel from local and neighboring communities, as well as Minnesota Department of Public Safety and highway patrol staff. [9]

On February 22, 2008, the driver of the minivan, Olga Franco del Cid 23-year old from Minneota, was charged under the name 'Alianiss Nunez Morales' with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide; one count of a stop sign violation and one count of not having a Minnesota driver’s license. Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement had believed that Franco del Cid was in the country illegally and that the name she gave authorities was not her true identity. [16] Immigration officials went to Puerto Rico to talk to the grandmother of the real Alianiss Morales and showed them pictures of the defendant. The grandmother did not recognize the woman in the pictures. [17]

On February 29, 2008, Franco del Cid was charged with identity theft and false representation of a Social Security number. Investigators had located the true Nunez Morales in Connecticut, who said her purse and identification documents were stolen while she was living in Puerto Rico. [18] It was revealed from state records that a state ID card was issued to a person with the name Alianiss Nunez Morales in February 2006. Three months after it was issued, a woman named with the same name was charged in Chippewa County for driving without a valid driver’s license. She pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $182 in fines and court fees. [19] [20]

The trial began in late July 2008, after being moved from Marshall to the Kandiyohi County courthouse in Willmar. During the trial, the defense argued that Franco del Cid’s then-boyfriend, Francisco Sangabriel Mendoza, was driving the minivan that hit the school bus, and that the crash threw her toward the driver’s seat. [21] [22] [23] Emergency responders said they found Franco del Cid at the scene behind the steering wheel, her right foot wedged under a crumpled dashboard near the accelerator, which directly contradicted the defense that her boyfriend was driving. [2]

On August 24, 2008, Franco del Cid was convicted of four counts of criminal vehicular homicide, 17 counts of criminal vehicular operation, providing a false name and birth date to a police office, failing to stop at a stop sign, and driving without a valid driver's license. [13] On October 8, 2008, she was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison. [10] [24] Franco del Cid's attorney appealed her conviction but it was upheld by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on July 20, 2010. [25] [26] After serving eight years of her prison sentence, she was released from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee on April 26, 2016 and was deported from the United States the following month, according to an ICE spokesperson. [23]

Three years after her deportation, she was arrested again at her home in Inver Grove Heights on November 29, 2019 after ICE officials acted on an anonymous tip that she re-entered the country illegally. [27] Franco del Cid was then charged on December 13, 2019 with illegal reentry after removal, identification document fraud and false representation of Social Security number. [28] She pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to another two years in prison on June 11, 2020. [29] [30]

Aftermath

Classes were cancelled at Lakeview Public Schools the day after the crash and resumed later in the week with extra support staff and grief counselors available for students and staff. [5] Several funerals and memorials were held in the community including a memorial service at the Lakeview High School gymnasium where over a thousand people gathered to remember the four students killed. [31] The families of the victims were instrumental in getting a memorial garden started on the school grounds in the years after the crash. Most noticeable in the garden is a large red heart with the names of the four children who died on one side and the names of the 24 students who survived along with the bus driver on the other side. Members of the Cottonwood Fire Department also raised money for the installation of stop signs with flashing lights at rural intersections near Cottonwood. [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cottonwood, Minnesota</span> City in Minnesota, United States

Cottonwood is a city in Lyon County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,149 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Littlefield, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Littlefield is a city in and the county seat of Lamb County, Texas, United States. Its population was 5,943 at the 2020 census. It is located in a significant cotton-growing region, northwest of Lubbock on the Llano Estacado just south of the Texas Panhandle. Littlefield had a large denim-manufacturing plant operated by American Cotton Growers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road traffic safety</span> Methods and measures for reducing the risk of death and injury on roads

Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, and passengers of on-road public transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greyhound Lines</span> North American intercity bus service

Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) is a company that operates the largest intercity bus service in North America. Services include Greyhound Mexico, charter bus services, and Amtrak Thruway services. Greyhound operates 1,700 coaches produced mainly by Motor Coach Industries and Prevost serving 230 stations and 1,700 destinations. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. The company is owned by Flix North America, Inc., an affiliate of FlixBus, and is based in Downtown Dallas.

The Carrollton bus collision occurred on May 14, 1988, on Interstate 71 in unincorporated Carroll County, Kentucky. The collision involved a former school bus in use by a church youth group and a pickup truck driven by an alcohol-impaired driver. The head-on collision was the deadliest incident involving drunk driving and the third-deadliest bus crash in U.S. history. Of the 67 people on the bus, there were 27 fatalities in the crash, the same number as the 1958 Prestonsburg bus disaster, and behind the 1976 Yuba City bus disaster (29) and 1963 Chualar bus crash (32).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota State Highway 23</span> State highway in Minnesota, United States

Minnesota State Highway 23 (MN 23) is a state highway that stretches from southwestern to northeastern Minnesota. At 343.723 miles (553.169 km) in length, it is the second longest state route in Minnesota, after MN 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1995 Fox River Grove bus–train collision</span> Grade crossing collision in Fox River Grove, Illinois

The 1995 Fox River Grove bus–train collision was a grade crossing collision that killed seven students riding aboard a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, on the morning of October 25, 1995. The school bus, driven by a substitute driver, was stopped at a traffic light with the rearmost portion extending onto a portion of the railroad tracks when it was struck by a Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line train, train 624 en route to Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School bus traffic stop laws</span>

School bus stop laws are laws dictating what a motorist must do in the vicinity of a bus stop being used by a school bus or other bus, coach or minibus providing school transport.

The Huntsville bus crash involved a school bus carrying 40 students from Lee High School and a car, both heading to the Huntsville Center for Technology, which occurred on November 20, 2006, on an elevated portion of Interstate 565 in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Bluffton University bus crash was an automobile crash that occurred during the early morning hours of March 2, 2007, on Interstate 75 in Atlanta, Georgia. A chartered motorcoach was carrying 33 members of the Bluffton University baseball team from Bluffton, Ohio, on their way to play Eastern Mennonite University during spring break in Sarasota, Florida. The group planned to travel without an overnight stop on the approximately 900-mile, 18-hour trip. The trip went without incident from Bluffton south to a motel in Adairsville, Georgia, at which time a relief driver began operating the bus for the second half of the trip.

The Westside Middle School shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on March 24, 1998, at Westside Middle School in unincorporated Craighead County, Arkansas near the city of Jonesboro. 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden opened fire on the school, shooting and killing five people with multiple weapons, and both were arrested when they attempted to flee the scene. Ten others were wounded. Golden and Johnson were convicted of five murders and ten assaults, and were imprisoned until each turned 21 years of age. After the 1992 Lindhurst High School shooting that killed four people in Olivehurst, California, the massacre was the deadliest non-college school shooting in contemporary U.S. history until the April 1999 Columbine High School massacre. As of 2024, the incident is the deadliest mass shooting at a middle school in U.S. history.

The 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash was a traffic collision that occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m. on July 26, 2009, on the Taconic State Parkway in the town of Mount Pleasant, near the village of Briarcliff Manor, New York, United States. A minivan, being driven by 36-year-old Diane Schuler, traveled 1.7 miles (2.7 km) in the wrong direction on the parkway and collided head-on with an oncoming SUV. Eight people were killed: Schuler, her daughter and three nieces, and the three occupants in the SUV. The crash was the worst fatal motor vehicle crash to occur in Westchester County since July 22, 1934, when a bus crash in Ossining claimed twenty lives.

The Westdene dam disaster was a bus accident that took place in Westdene, near Johannesburg, South Africa, on 27 March 1985. Of the 72 occupants, 42 drowned inside the submerged bus and two were declared deceased shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital. The remaining 30, including the bus driver, were rescued.

On April 6, 2018, 16 people were killed and 13 were injured when a northbound coach bus struck a westbound semi-trailer truck that blew through a stop sign near Armley, Saskatchewan, Canada. The driver of the truck had failed to yield at a flashing stop sign at the intersection of Saskatchewan Highways 35 and 335 while driving at a speed of approximately 100 km/h (62 mph). Most of the deceased and injured were players from the Humboldt Broncos, a junior ice hockey team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which plays in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).

The Marshall Heights Line, designated Route U5 & U6, are daily bus routes operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Minnesota Avenue station of the Orange Line of the Washington Metro and Marshall Heights via Lincoln Heights. Both lines operate every 20-30 minutes at all times. Trips take roughly 30 minutes for both routes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neilia Hunter Biden</span> First wife of President Joe Biden (1942–1972)

Neilia Hunter Biden was an American teacher. She was the first wife of Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, and died in a 1972 car crash with their one-year-old daughter, Naomi. Their two sons, Beau and Hunter were injured but survived the incident. Her death occurred six weeks after her husband's election to the U.S. Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Deona Marie Knajdek</span> Vehicle-ramming attack in Minneapolis in June 2021

Deona Marie Knajdek, a 31-year old American woman, was killed on June 13, 2021, when a man drove a car into a crowd of demonstrators who had gathered as a part of the Uptown Minneapolis unrest. That evening, demonstrators protesting the law enforcement killing of Winston Boogie Smith had blocked the intersection of West Lake Street and Girard Avenue. At approximately 11:39 p.m. CDT, a man in a late-model Jeep Cherokee drove into the crowd at a high speed, striking a parked vehicle that had been used to block off the intersection to traffic, which then collided with protesters, killing Knajdek and injuring three others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 New Jersey bus crash</span> School bus crash in Mount Olive, New Jersey

On May 17, 2018, a school bus carrying teachers and students from East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey to Waterloo Village, New Jersey crashed into a dump truck while making an illegal U-turn from Interstate 80 eastbound to westbound, in the town of Mount Olive. The driver missed the exit to Waterloo Village and attempted to illegally turn onto I-80 westbound to turn back to the exit, but crashed into a dump truck. One student and one teacher were killed, with 42 others being injured.

On the morning of August 22, 2023, a school bus in Clark County, Ohio overturned off the side of the road, after being struck by a passenger van that crossed the centerline. One student died as a result of the collision, and 26 others were injured.

References

  1. Post, Tim (February 26, 2008). "Fatal bus crash spurs immigration debate". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Walsh, Paul (June 12, 2020). "2 more years in prison, second deportation for woman who killed schoolkids in Minnesota bus crash". Star Tribune. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  3. Dunbar, Elizabeth; Steil, Mark. "Four children dead, cause of bus crash still unclear". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  4. Post, Tim (February 20, 2008). "State says Highway 23 is safe, drivers not so sure". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 "LESSONS LEARNED: From School Crises and Emergencies" (PDF). Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools. U.S. Department of Education. 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "2 brothers among 4 school bus crash fatalities". NBC News. Associated Press. February 20, 2008. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  7. Brewer, John (March 25, 2008). "911 transcript from Cottonwood, Minn. bus crash: 'We got a bad accident!'". Pioneer Press. Retrieved December 19, 2020. Dispatchers summoned emergency responders to the scene after the first call came in at about 3:25 p.m.
  8. "4 students killed in Minn. school bus crash; at least 14 others injured". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. February 20, 2020. Retrieved December 19, 2008. Initial reports said the bus was carrying 40 people, but it actually carried 28 students and a driver, Minnesota Public Safety spokeswoman Christine Krueger said.
  9. 1 2 3 Kirk, Jenny (February 19, 2008). "It was a bad day". Marshall Independent. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Brewer, John (October 8, 2008). "Olga Franco gets 12-year prison sentence for Cottonwood school bus crash". Pioneer Press. Archived from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  11. Kirk, Jenny (February 21, 2008). "Healing after the crash". Marshall Independent. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  12. "Police Report of Accident" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board . Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Melo, Fredrick (August 6, 2008). "Franco found guilty in Cottonwood bus crash that killed four, injured 17". Pioneer Press. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  14. "School bus crash kills 4; injured taken to Sioux Falls hospital". Rapid City Journal. Associated Press. February 19, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  15. "School resumes in Cottonwood as investigation ramps up". Minnesota Public Radio News. Associated Press. February 21, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  16. Melo, Frederick; Brewer, John (February 21, 2008). "Feds: Woman charged in fatal school bus crash is in U.S. illegally with fake ID". Pioneer Press. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  17. Espinoza, Ambar; Yuen, Laura (February 23, 2008). "Who is the other Alianiss Nunez Morales?". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  18. Steil, Mark (February 29, 2008). "Federal charges filed against van driver in Cottonwood bus crash". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  19. "It's unclear how van driver obtained her state ID card". Pioneer Press. February 22, 2008. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020. State records show a state ID card was issued to a person with the name Alianiss Nunez Morales in February 2006. Three months after it was issued, a woman named Alianiss Nunes Morales was charged in Chippewa County with driving without a valid driver's license. She pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $182 in fines and court fees.
  20. Wettschreck, Justine (March 1, 2008). "Behind the wheel". The Globe. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  21. "Defense begins calling witnesses in fatal bus crash trial". West Central Tribune. August 5, 2008. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  22. "Franco takes stand, says abusive boyfriend was driving". The Globe. August 5, 2008. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  23. 1 2 Gau, Deb (February 22, 2008). "Illegal immigrant convicted in causing crash deported in 2016". Marshall Independent. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  24. "Verdict in on bus crash accident". The Free Press. October 9, 2008. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  25. Forliti, Amy (July 20, 2010). "Woman loses appeal in fatal Cottonwood bus crash". Winona Daily News . Associated Press. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  26. State v. Franco del Sid, A8-0226 ( Minn. Ct. App. 2010).
  27. Moylan, Martin (November 27, 2020). "Woman who served time after deadly bus crash arrested for illegal entry in the U.S." Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  28. "Woman charged for illegally returning to U.S. following conviction in deadly Minnesota school bus crash". KMSP FOX 9. December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  29. "Olga Franco del Cid, Previously Convicted In Crash That Killed 4 MN Children, Pleads Guilty To Illegally Re-Entering US". WCCO. February 3, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  30. "Woman convicted in fatal 2008 school bus crash sentenced for illegally re-entering U.S." Pioneer Press. June 11, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  31. "Woman arrested in Minn. bus crash; Victims mourned at service". Duluth News Tribune. February 22, 2008. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  32. Kirk, Jenny (February 24, 2008). "A journey of hope". Marshall Independent. Retrieved December 21, 2020.

44°35′12″N95°41′31″W / 44.586678°N 95.691841°W / 44.586678; -95.691841