Morning school bus crash ties up traffic on I-69 in Allen County No students survived

The crash involved two school buses from Mississinewa Community Schools in Grant County. At the time of the crash, the two school buses were transporting fourth- and fifth-grade students to the Shrine Circus at the Allen County Memorial Coliseum. There were a total of 58 students, seven adult chaperones, and the two drivers onboard the two buses, police said.

Also at this location at the same time was a secondary crash involving a Grant County Sheriff’s Department patrol car and a passenger car. The patrol car was serving as a rear escort vehicle behind the convoy of school buses headed to the circus, according to police.

The preliminary investigation revealed that there was a lengthy line of school buses and police escort vehicles attempting to exit the interstate at the Goshen Road exit. The Grant County deputy observed the congestion ahead and backed off his patrol car to create a safety buffer between the school buses and approaching traffic. The two buses at the rear of the back-up became involved in a rear end collision (one bus hit the other), and then an approaching Chevrolet Malibu passenger car crashed into the rear of the Grant County patrol car, police reported.

Jennifer Moore, 33, of Marion was the driver of a 2024 Thomas school bus. Susan Hill, 63, of Fairmount was the driver of a 2019 Thomas school bus, according to police.

Of the 65 occupants on the two school buses, only one child that reported a very minor injury to her head. All other students, chaperones and both drivers were uninjured. There were no injuries sustained in the secondary crash involving the patrol car, police said.

The two school buses sustained enough damage that they had to be towed from the scene. Mississinewa Community Schools expedited two replacement buses to the scene. At approximately 11:15 a.m., all students, chaperones and drivers were transferred onto the replacement buses, and then transported to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne. As a precaution, all students were medically evaluated at the Parkview emergency room prior to being transported back home by the Mississinewa School Corporation, according to police.

The crash scene investigation and clean-up effort took approximately two hours, and resulted in a steady 4-5 miles of interstate traffic back-up. Traffic was opened back up just before noon, police reported.

Managing traffic and maintaining safety at the scene required a cooperative effort by numerous officers from the Fort Wayne Post, Allen County Police Department, Fort Wayne Police Department, Parker’s Wrecker Service, and Losure’s Wrecker Service of Grant County.

This remains an active crash investigation by the Indiana State Police, specifically Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division- School Bus Inspection personnel.

Indiana State Police said it would like to publicly commend the PRMC emergency room medical staff, the administrators, and the public safety officers for a job well done.

“The professionalism and efficiency demonstrated while handling this influx of of unexpected patients into the ER was surely comforting for all the involved children. PRMC even sent them off with a bagged lunch, bottled drinks, and snacks for their bus ride home,” police said in a news release.