Greenfield school bus crash near 27th and Howard, 1 person dead
MILWAUKEE - A woman is dead, and four other people were injured after a five-vehicle crash this morning. One of those vehicles was an empty school bus.
It happened at 27th and Howard in Greenfield.
The crash here shut down the intersection and snarled traffic for several hours.
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Milwaukee school bus crash, 27th and Howard
No children were on the bus at the time, and the bus company says the driver was on his way back to the yard when the bus was hit by another vehicle, causing a chain reaction crash.
Five vehicles, including a school bus, were left mangled and, for some witnesses, still hard to comprehend.
"It all happened so fast," said Gary Gotay, who said he was heading south on 27th Street when it all started.
"I saw the impact of the gray vehicle, with the other vehicle and the school bus and just saw the school bus flip over," Gotay added. "It just happened so fast. I was shocked. The only thing on my mind was (are there) kids on the school bus."
Milwaukee school bus crash, 27th and Howard
There weren't any kids on the bus, only the bus driver.
"He was walking around here at the scene. When you look at what he went through, I’m surprised he’s in good spirits," said Dean Brown, Lamers General Manager.
Lamers Bus Lines says the driver was on his way back to the company's south side terminal after the morning routes.
"What we’ve been told by officials and other people on scene is that our school bus was southbound on 27th street. There was another vehicle that was eastbound on Howard Avenue, and according to them – with the film and stuff here – that vehicle went through the red light and made contact with the school bus, at which point the school bus lost control," Brown added.
Milwaukee school bus crash, 27th and Howard
Greenfield police say the bus driver and three people in other vehicles were taken to the hospital to get checked out, but are expected to be okay.
But the driver in one of the vehicles, a 26-year-old woman from Milwaukee, died at the scene.
The Wisconsin State Patrol helped with reconstruction of the scene.
The Greenfield Police Department says all drivers remained at the scene and are cooperating with the investigation.
Editor's note: The initial story reported that the crash happened in Milwaukee. The intersection where this crash happened is on the border between Milwaukee and Greenfield. Greenfield police later clarified that this accident happened in Greenfield, however, Milwaukee police and fire still responded.