SAN ANTONIO -- A 7-year-old boy and two adults are recovering in the hospital after a special needs school bus plunged off an I-37 overpass in the downtown area, police say.
Leslie Price, spokeswoman for the San Antonio Independent School District, said she can now only confirm that the bus driver was wearing a seatbelt. She had originally told KENS 5 that all three were wearing seat belts.
All three were taken to University Hospital in stable condition.
The child on the bus, however, was not actually a special needs student. Price said he attends Highland Park Elementary and is eligible for transportation.
San Antonio police Sgt. Javier Salazar said the northbound bus plunged about 15 feet to the access road below after colliding with a car around 4:30 p.m.
"The two adults suffered possibly some broken bones and the child, from what I understand, just some minor facial injuries," Salazar said.
The bus sustained heavy damage to the front end after smashing into the concrete near the Comfort Inn Suites, 505 Live Oak -- about a half mile north of the Alamodome.
The accident snarled traffic during rush hours as crews worked to clear the other vehicle from the roadway.
The driver of that vehicle was uninjured, police said.
The hotel manager said no guests were injured.
Thursday's crash marks the second school-bus involved accident for the San Antonio ISD this week.
On Monday, a San Antonio Independent School bus crashed into a Judson ISD bus near Wagner High School on Foster Road. Police said the driver, 63-year-old Delores Martinez, swerved into oncoming traffic and slammed into the other bus head on.
Martinez died at the scene, police said, while the other Judson ISD bus driver and two students were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
According to recent figures, the San Antonio ISD reported 60 school bus-involved accidents in the 2011 school year. The Northside ISD, which is of similar size, reported 78.
