Charges pending in school bus crash

GAINESVILLE - Charges are pending against a man who struck a Hall County school bus on Thompson Bridge Road Friday afternoon.

Three students on board the bus were taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries, according to the Georgia State Patrol. Initially, reports from the scene indicated there were no injuries to students on the bus, which was transporting students from North Hall Middle and North Hall High schools.

Randolph Marvin Eccles, 54, of Murrayville the driver of the Corvette that hit the bus, also was injured and taken to the hospital. There is no word on the severity of his injuries.

Investigators says Eccles was trying to pass a vehicle as he traveled northbound near Wahoo Drive. He lost control of his car and hit the bus, knocking the bus off the roadway, into a guy wire and down an embankment. Debris from the crash struck a northbound Honda in the driver's side door panel, according to the State Patrol report.

Hall County School System spokesman Gordon Higgins commended Andrea Gilbert, the driver of bus 1791.

"Of course the car still struck her bus, but according to some witnesses there and some students who commented said that she (bus driver) appeared to really react very well to the circumstance she was put in," Higgins said.