By TIM KELLY
It could’ve been a whole lot worse.
A pickup truck-school bus accident during Wednesday morning’s rush hour briefly closed one of Ocean City’s busiest intersections.
There were no reported injuries in the 8:40 a.m. accident near Eighth Street and Asbury Avenue as people were reporting for work or shopping along the city’s downtown.
According to Lt. Patrick Randles, the school bus was occupied by driver Tyrone Whitaker and one unidentified child passenger.
Witnesses said the driver of the truck was Kevin Barnes, of Ocean City.
Randles said Whitaker was issued a summons on Thursday for “failure to observe a traffic control device.”
No other summonses were issued.
Barnes’ 7-year-old daughter, Devon, was in the back seat of the pickup truck.
Passersby and at least one man who works nearby aided the occupants of the truck, which witnesses said flipped over and landed on the passenger side after the driver swerved to avoid the school bus.
Witnesses said the school bus, traveling west on Eighth Street, pulled out too far in the intersection, stopped and backed up. Barnes was headed north on Asbury when the vehicles made contact, according to police.
After the initial impact, Randles said, the pickup struck an unoccupied parked vehicle and rolled onto its side before coming to a stop.
At that point, Maureen Schneider, a realtor for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Fox & Roach, came upon the scene as she turned onto Asbury from Seventh Street on her way to the office, a few steps away from the crash.
Schneider said her colleague, real estate broker Patrick Halliday, was one of the first people to rush to the overturned truck.
“Pat was hitting the windshield with a sledgehammer in an effort to free the people from the truck in the first moments before police, EMT and fire personnel arrived,” Schneider said.
With the truck resting on its side, witnesses said Barnes stood on the passenger side door as he attempted to comfort and remove his daughter from the back seat.
Halliday, who was in a meeting, said he first heard the beeping of the school bus, apparently backing up, and then the crash.
“My truck was a few feet away and I grabbed a small sledgehammer,” said Halliday, who recognized the truck right away and knows Barnes.
“Our main concern was the child in the back seat and to try to get her out of there,” he added.
Whitaker took a fire extinguisher from the school bus and used it to aid Halliday in breaking the glass. A third unidentified man also helped, Halliday said, as the trio kicked the windshield and finally broke it open.
First responders arrived moments later, and Officer Ben Bethea joined with the residents in safely removing Devon and Barnes from the truck.
Schneider comforted and stayed with the little girl while her dad spoke with medical personnel and police.
The accident was investigated by Officer Craig Wilson of the OCPD’s Traffic Safety Unit.
