No students injured in school bus crash in Brookhaven

No children were injured Wednesday morning when a DeKalb County school bus carrying about 40 middle school students collided with a car that pulled out in front of it in Brookhaven, authorities said.

The other car caught on fire after the wreck, which happened about 8:10 a.m. in the 3500 of Buford Highway, Brookhaven police Lt. David Snively said. The wreck and subsequent blaze shut down the major road in both directions for more than an hour.

“It looks like a car hit the school bus, and that resulted in a pretty significant fire,” Snively said, adding the bus was full of students on their way to Sequoyah Middle School at the time.

None of the students were injured, but the driver of the BMW that caught on fire suffered head injuries and was taken to the hospital. In a statement, the DeKalb County School District said the driver of the bus moved the vehicle away from the burning car following the fiery crash.

The students were evaluated at the scene before being placed on another school bus and taken to the middle school.

Police said the two vehicles collided when a woman leaving a senior living community tried to make a left turn across the divided highway.

“She successfully crossed all the northbound lanes, but failed to yield while entering the southbound lanes and struck the bus,” Snively said. The driver was cited for failure to yield.

Buford Highway was shut down between Afton Lane and Clairmont Road at the height of the morning commute, but all lanes reopened just after 9:30 a.m.

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