School bus, car collide in Gwynn Oak area

The Baltimore Sun

When Stephanie Dennis learned yesterday morning that her teenage son's school bus had been in an accident, she rushed to the scene and saw a cluster of rescue workers and police cruisers.

It didn't take long for the workers to spot Dennis and other parents who had arrived at the intersection, in the Gwynn Oak area of Baltimore County.

"They immediately approached us and said those words that you always want to hear - 'All the kids are OK,'" said Dennis, of Catonsville. "Once you hear that, then your mind is put at ease. Then you go into the mode of what you can do also to help."

The bus, carrying about 40 children ages 5 to 15 to summer camps at McDonogh School in Owings Mills, collided with a 1996 Cadillac DeVille on Windsor Mill Road, Baltimore County police said.

While no children were seriously injured, the driver of the Cadillac, Martha O. Barnes, 21, of Randallstown, was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with serious injuries, police said. She was expected to live.

Police said Barnes drove into the path of the bus, which was heading west on Windsor Mill Road. Barnes was attempting to turn left onto the two-lane road from Mayfield Avenue - which has a stop sign - about 8:45 a.m. when the bus struck the Cadillac's front driver's side, police said.

The investigation was continuing, said Cpl. Mike Hill, a police spokesman.

Barnes was charged in May with operating an unregistered motor vehicle, driving an uninsured vehicle and displaying plates issued for another vehicle, court records show. She is scheduled to go to trial in August. Barnes did not appear at a scheduled court hearing this month related to a January charge of failing to display a license on demand, court records show.

McDonogh School officials yesterday praised the response of the bus driver, Jennifer DeMoss, 31, a 10-year school employee. Her 2-year-old daughter was in a car seat on the bus, officials said. DeMoss could not be reached for comment.

After the crash, DeMoss walked up and down the aisle of the bus to check each child's condition, said Larry Johnston, vice president of McDonogh School. Any child who did not immediately say he or she was OK was sent to a hospital as a precaution, Johnston said.

Thirteen children were examined at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore or Northwest Hospital in Randallstown. The most serious injury was a cut lip, Johnston said. By early afternoon, all of the children had been released, and many had returned to the summer programs at McDonogh.

School officials called parents to notify them of the crash. One parent received a voicemail from a child saying, "There's been an accident, but I'm fine. Can I still go to camp?'" Johnston said.

Dennis was at her home when she received a phone call from a friend of her son, Haki, 14. Dennis was told that Haki and other children were "just a little banged up.'

"What could have been a very tragic situation was one that was handled so appropriately," Dennis said. When she talked to Haki, who suffered a lip injury, she knew there was nothing to worry about.

"His big concern," Dennis said, "was making sure he got to school in time to take a test in summer physics."

josh.mitchell@baltsun.com

Sun reporters Julie Scharper and Jazzmen Tynes contributed to this article.

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