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Crime & Safety

Driver Critical After Bypass Wreck

A 75-year-old bus driver and a 68-year-old Warminster aide were hurt in the Thursday afternoon crash on the Newtown Bypass.

The 75-year-old driver of the on the Newtown Bypass Thursday afternoon remains in critical condition at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, according to a release from Newtown authorities.

The driver, Janet Callan, of Doylestown, was flown by PennStar medical helicopter to Philadelphia after a nearly 20-minute extrication by more than a dozen firefighters following the crash.

The only passenger on the bus was Eleanor Weaver, 68, of Warminster. She suffered injuries and was transported to St. Mary Medical Center by ground ambulance and was released shortly after, police said.

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No students were on the bus, which was operated by First Student.

Witnesses to the wreck told investigating officers that the yellow bus traveled onto the shoulder of roadway for a several yards before it struck the back of the truck. A detective at the scene Thursday told Patch the bus had scraped the guard rail along the eastbound shoulder in the moments before the crash.

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The delivery truck, which was being leased by Mealey’s Furniture in Falls Township and was owned by Freedom International Trucks, was pulled over on the side of the Bypass after a check engine light came on, police said. The 29-year-old delivery truck passenger said at the scene that the crash, which happened approximately three minutes after the box truck pulled over, made a loud “boom.”

The two men who were working for Mealey’s were not injured.

Officers conducted an inspection of the truck and found no mechanical problems that played a role in the crash. The inspection of the bus is on-going, police said.

Firefighters and EMTs from Northampton and Wrightstown assisted Newtown authorities with the rescue operation.

Police did not comment on whether medical issues contributed to Callan losing control of the bus right before the crash.


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