SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. – News 6 has just confirmed a school bus driver carrying 29 kids and two adults struck by a train in Sumter County Thursday has been cited for failing to stop at a railroad crossing and is no longer employed with the district. Incredibly, no one was hurt.
Video from TikTok user @pre.k.thug26 is going viral with more than 500,000 views, showing kids on a school bus terrified, screaming and crying as a train speeds past just feet from the rear of the bus. The video uses the hashtags #TrainHitMyBus and #SumterCountyFL, and it was posted the same day.
Christina Armstrong says she saw the Sumter County school bus carrying 29 kids and 2 adults collide with a train in Bushnell Thursday near North Main Street and East Central Avenue.
“The train hit the back of the bus, and immediately your heart just starts to go kind of crazy,” Armstrong said.
Sumter County School District Superintendent Logan Brown says the train clipped the back of the bus and the driver is no longer employed with the district as of Thursday. The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office is now confirming the driver was cited the same day of the crash for failing to stop at a railroad crossing.
Armstrong described what she saw in the moments leading up to the collision.
“The bus had stopped before the tracks, and then it started to go. A car had changed into the other lane, by the looks of it. I was grabbing donations from our customers, and I saw the bus pull forward, but not enough,” Armstrong said.
Luckily, none of the children was injured.
“I wanted to cry. I immediately started to pray afterward because it was a lot,” Armstrong said.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office says it plans to have an incident report ready by Monday.