A 1999 Blue Bird school bus full of Central Kitsap Junior High School students was hit by a car Friday afternoon at the intersection of Silverdale Way and Chico Way.
It wasn’t a typical ride home from school for a busload of Central Kitsap Junior High students after a car careened into the front bumper of their school bus Friday afternoon.
The bus, carrying 29 students, was on Silverdale Way in the left turn lane to Chico Way just before 2:30 p.m. when a red 1982 Toyota pickup truck was hit by the driver of a 2003 Lexus ES 300, which sent the pickup into the front of the bus.
Mark Thompson of Bremerton, the driver of the pickup, was traveling northbound on Silverdale Way when he said the Lexus pulled left in front of him.
“I was coming into Silverdale and he clipped me,” Thompson said. “It happened all too fast, it caught me off guard, definitely.”
Thompson’s truck swerved into the school bus, a 1999 Blue Bird, hitting its left front side. The bus was driven from the scene. Damage estimates were unavailable at press time.
One student, who was sitting toward the front of the bus, was treated for a minor injury by Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue and was released to her mother. The remaining students were transferred to a second school bus at the scene.
Thompson said he purchased the pickup last year and had just put in a new motor.
“I have ($3,000) into it and now it’s totaled,” he said. “I was really proud of it.”
Norman Baisler of Bremerton, the driver of the Lexus, was driving his wife’s car.
“I’ve only had it a little over a year, it’s my wife’s — double ‘oh no,’” he said. “I was in Silverdale looking into what tires were going to cost me, it’s going to cost me a lot more now.”