Four Highlands County school children and their bus driver were injured Wednesday morning when their school bus was struck by a semitrailer truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The crash took place just before 8 a.m. on U.S. 27 and Lake Placid Drive.
The FHP said 45-year-old Stanley Lockwood, 45, of Orlando, was driving northbound on U.S. 27. Ahead of him was a school bus that had activated its flashing lights and stopped to allow students to climb aboard.
But Lockwood didn't stop, the FHP said, and his semi struck the rear of the school bus. The impact forced the bus onto the shoulder of the road and then overturned it.
There were 39 students on board. Two were flown to Tampa General Hospital with serious injuries, the FHP said. Two other students were taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries along with the bus driver, Selena Hawthorne, 59.
Lockwood was cited for careless driving, the FHP said.