Be careful all Bonneville Owners....
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Be careful all Bonneville Owners....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/26/bus.crash/index.html
The car that the 7 kids died in was a Pontiac Bonneville. Said it in the local paper. This happened a little bit away from me. The semi hit the Bonneville, which then hit the bus and shot it 90 feet farther down the road. 90 DANG FEET! The driver of the car was 15 (no adult in the car), but that had nothing to do with the wreck. If there were 7 people, I know seatbelts werent being worn. Please, be careful and watch your rearview mirrors. This is why I dont like big trucks. I dont care if it is because of alcohol, a phone, or becuase he was up too long. Something needs to be done to protect cars from big trucks.
LAKE BUTLER, Florida (CNN) -- News of a crash in which seven children perished so upset their grandfather that he had a massive heart attack and died, the children'* mother said.
"I lost my daddy tonight," Barbara Mann said Wednesday. "My dad died of a massive heart attack tonight over all this. He lost all seven of his grandkids ... I can't deal with this."
William Scott, who was 62, The Associated Press reported, died at his home. (Watch as news of the deaths proved to be unbearable
Alvin Wilkerson, 32, of Jacksonville, Florida, has been identified as the driver of the tractor-trailer which plowed into the children'* car near Gainesville, Florida, Wednesday. The impact caused the car to slam into the rear of a school bus that had stopped to let children off.
The car burst into flames, killing all the children inside, Lt. Mike Burroughs of the Florida Highway Patrol said. (Full story)
They have been identified as: Cynthia Nicole Mann and Elizabeth Mann, both 15; Ashley Keen and Johnny Mann, both 13; Miranda Finn, 9; Heaven Mann, 3; and Anthony Lamb, 20 months.
All were adopted foster children, except for Anthony, who was in the process of being adopted, Burroughs said.
Ashley and Miranda were also cousins.
At the wheel was Cynthia Mann, who had a learner'* permit. Under Florida law, it is illegal for a 15-year-old to drive without an adult. But Lt. Bill Leeper of the Florida Highway Patrol said that was not relevant to the crash.
"There are some questions we're going to need answered ... but those are questions we'll look at later," Leeper said. "Right now everything has to do with the truck."
Trucker had driving citations
Wilkerson has been hospitalized and is medicated, police said.
Initial estimates show Wilkerson'* truck traveling between 50 mph and 65 mph when it struck the Manns' car, police said.
The tractor-trailer left no skid marks, police told CNN Thursday. But there were marks on the road indicating Wilkerson veered away only after the initial impact.
"Basically he just wasn't paying attention, couldn't slow down in time and just ran into the back of the other vehicle," Leeper said.
Wilkerson was cited in 2000 and 2001 for operating a vehicle in unsafe conditions and also for driving on a suspended or revoked license in 2000.
'Ready to go to church'
Cynthia Mann'* aunt said the girl had just dropped off another child and was taking the rest of the children home "to get ready to go to church."
"It'* my understanding she did not cause the accident," Tina Mann said of her niece. "The same thing would have happened had there been an adult in the car with her. We'd just have one more death in the family."
Three of the nine children aboard the bus were seriously injured and transported by helicopter to hospitals. None of the students' injuries were life-threatening, Leeper said.
A spokeswoman for Shands Hospital in Gainesville said eight patients were transported, ages 5 to 16. Two were in critical condition; three in serious condition, Betsy Miller said.
The driver of the bus was also injured, but her condition wasn't immediately known.
Meanwhile, the small Florida community where the victims lived reeled in shock.
A spokesman for the family, Scott Fisher, a minister, thanked the sheriff'* department, rescuers and the public for an "outpouring of support."
"The family, of course, is deeply in grief," he said. "They have lost their children.
"We just cry with them, pray with them. And we let them know that this community is strong, that we are all here, that they're not alone. That it'* not just this community, but the whole nation mourns with them," he said. "Tell them that maybe the children aren't really ours. They're God'*, and He just called them home."
"I lost my daddy tonight," Barbara Mann said Wednesday. "My dad died of a massive heart attack tonight over all this. He lost all seven of his grandkids ... I can't deal with this."
William Scott, who was 62, The Associated Press reported, died at his home. (Watch as news of the deaths proved to be unbearable
Alvin Wilkerson, 32, of Jacksonville, Florida, has been identified as the driver of the tractor-trailer which plowed into the children'* car near Gainesville, Florida, Wednesday. The impact caused the car to slam into the rear of a school bus that had stopped to let children off.
The car burst into flames, killing all the children inside, Lt. Mike Burroughs of the Florida Highway Patrol said. (Full story)
They have been identified as: Cynthia Nicole Mann and Elizabeth Mann, both 15; Ashley Keen and Johnny Mann, both 13; Miranda Finn, 9; Heaven Mann, 3; and Anthony Lamb, 20 months.
All were adopted foster children, except for Anthony, who was in the process of being adopted, Burroughs said.
Ashley and Miranda were also cousins.
At the wheel was Cynthia Mann, who had a learner'* permit. Under Florida law, it is illegal for a 15-year-old to drive without an adult. But Lt. Bill Leeper of the Florida Highway Patrol said that was not relevant to the crash.
"There are some questions we're going to need answered ... but those are questions we'll look at later," Leeper said. "Right now everything has to do with the truck."
Trucker had driving citations
Wilkerson has been hospitalized and is medicated, police said.
Initial estimates show Wilkerson'* truck traveling between 50 mph and 65 mph when it struck the Manns' car, police said.
The tractor-trailer left no skid marks, police told CNN Thursday. But there were marks on the road indicating Wilkerson veered away only after the initial impact.
"Basically he just wasn't paying attention, couldn't slow down in time and just ran into the back of the other vehicle," Leeper said.
Wilkerson was cited in 2000 and 2001 for operating a vehicle in unsafe conditions and also for driving on a suspended or revoked license in 2000.
'Ready to go to church'
Cynthia Mann'* aunt said the girl had just dropped off another child and was taking the rest of the children home "to get ready to go to church."
"It'* my understanding she did not cause the accident," Tina Mann said of her niece. "The same thing would have happened had there been an adult in the car with her. We'd just have one more death in the family."
Three of the nine children aboard the bus were seriously injured and transported by helicopter to hospitals. None of the students' injuries were life-threatening, Leeper said.
A spokeswoman for Shands Hospital in Gainesville said eight patients were transported, ages 5 to 16. Two were in critical condition; three in serious condition, Betsy Miller said.
The driver of the bus was also injured, but her condition wasn't immediately known.
Meanwhile, the small Florida community where the victims lived reeled in shock.
A spokesman for the family, Scott Fisher, a minister, thanked the sheriff'* department, rescuers and the public for an "outpouring of support."
"The family, of course, is deeply in grief," he said. "They have lost their children.
"We just cry with them, pray with them. And we let them know that this community is strong, that we are all here, that they're not alone. That it'* not just this community, but the whole nation mourns with them," he said. "Tell them that maybe the children aren't really ours. They're God'*, and He just called them home."
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Re: Be careful all Bonneville Owners....
Originally Posted by Lowrider0308
The car that the 7 kids died in was a Pontiac Bonneville. Said it in the local paper. This happened a little bit away from me. The semi hit the Bonneville, which then hit the bus and shot it 90 feet farther down the road. 90 DANG FEET! The driver of the car was 15 (no adult in the car), but that had nothing to do with the wreck. If there were 7 people, I know seatbelts werent being worn. Please, be careful and watch your rearview mirrors. This is why I dont like big trucks. I dont care if it is because of alcohol, a phone, or becuase he was up too long. Something needs to be done to protect cars from big trucks.
and another incident makes me watch it too, my old mitsubishi was rear ended HARD by a ford f150 at an intersection in the rain too and destroied the rear end of it.
*edit* upon reading another post i realized that my mitsubishi was white
#5
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CBS has an animation that shows a white or silver car. It has the color of the bus and the truck correct.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1240199.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1240199.shtml
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Re: Be careful all Bonneville Owners....
Originally Posted by Lowrider0308
I dont care if it is because of alcohol, a phone, or becuase he was up too long. Something needs to be done to protect cars from big trucks.
That story brought more than one tear to my eye. I WISH that all people driving semis were given more strict driver training and taken off the road after multiple offenses (even speeding!).
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This is truly a tragic loss, it isn't clear but I gather that 5 of the kids were all the siblings in one family along with two cousins, then the Grandfather has a heart attack that night after the crash.
It'* hard to even imagine the grief and anguish the remaining family members are going through. My heart goes out to them.
It'* hard to even imagine the grief and anguish the remaining family members are going through. My heart goes out to them.
#10
Evidence from the scene showed that the truck, which was carrying bottled water, did not brake before hitting the green Pontiac Boneville, Burroughs said. The car burst into flames and burned the victims, while the semi truck was partially burned
story that i got this from, http://www.lakecityreporter.com/arti...ory/news01.txt