A school bus driver in Hawkins County, Tennessee was killed Monday in a wrong-way crash after an 18-year old man drove his pickup truck into the wrong lane, hitting the bus head-on.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported that bus driver Aleita Gladson, 55, of Rogersville, Tennessee, was driving on Highway 70 in Hawkins County around 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning when the man drove his 2005 Chevy Silverado in front of the bus, killing Gladson.
The 18-year-old, whose name has not been released, was also injured in the crash and charges are pending.
The Hawkins County Rescue Squad extricated one person from the crash site and airlifted them from the scene near Willow Road in northern Tennessee.
Hawkins County Schools director Matt Hixson first announced Gladson’s death in a statement, and confirmed that two students on the bus also received medical treatment for their minor injuries.
“Aleita was a longtime and valued Hawkins County Schools team member, as a bus driver, as a secretary and as assistant director within our Transportation Department,” Hixson told the publication in a statement. “Our prayers go out to her family, and we would ask that all those within our Hawkins County community keep Aleita’s family in your prayers as well.”
“Hawkins County lost a wonderful woman, the part of the bus system that made it run smoothly and a vital part of the lives of the kids she encountered this morning,” one community member wrote in a Facebook post.
