MARION COUNTY, Fla. — On the way home from North Marion Middle School a school bus was rammed by a semi truck. Twenty-one students were involved in the accident and Frances Schee, 13, was one of those 21 students. Schee did not survive.
Reinaldo Gonzalez, 30, hit the back of the school bus which was stopped at a stop sign on US 301. Despite the buses clearly visible flashers, the truck hit the bus hard enough to push it forward some 200 feet. After the impact both vehicles were engulfed in flames. Twenty students were rescued from the burning bus as well as the bus driver thanks to the kind assistance of four motorists that happened to be passing by at the time of the incident. Francis Schee, however, was pinned in the bus and it became impossible to rescue her from the burning bus; the teen burned alive. According the Chris Mann, one of the rescuers, there was nothing that he could do to save the dying girl.
Gonzalez claims he never saw the bus stopped because he was too busy chatting on his mobile phone. Eight students were transported to the hospital: two remained for more care while six were later released the same day. The driver of the school bus was hospitalized for injuries to the knees, neck and back, and Gonzalez was also hospitalized for injuries he received to the head.
