‘This was the worst one yet’: Webster resident describes crash scene

WEBSTER, N.Y. — It was a shocking scene Wednesday afternoon in Webster, when a school bus — full of high school students from Wayne Central School returning from a field trip — went up in flames after a crash with a car. The car’s driver died at the scene; his name has not yet been released.

News10NBC spoke with a man who heard the crash and witnessed the aftermath, as well as several neighbors who say they are relieved all 22 kids made it off the bus before it was engulfed in flames.

Robert Hogestion lives across the street from where the crash happened.

“I just had sat down to lunch and I heard a loud bang, and I was like, that didn’t sound good. So I went out,” he said. He says as soon as he came outside, he saw students rushing out of the back of the bus.

“They were very, you know, screaming and very in shock, but they all went out very quickly — and I thought it was done very well for the evacuation on the bus,” Hogestion said.

Webster police say the bus was eastbound on Lake Road when the sedan traveling along Route 250 entered its path.

“Some of those students have some minor injuries. The bus driver is a little banged up as well. No significant injuries to the students. … We’ll let the investigation work itself through for causation and determine the cause of it all,” said Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier. One student and one adult were taken to the hospital after the crash.

Hogestion says he has seen accidents outside his house before, but not like this.

“It does happen, but I’ve never seen it to this extent — this was the worst one yet,” he said. “… It’s tragic, to see that happening down the road from you.”