SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. – News 6 confirmed that the driver of a Sumter County school bus carrying 29 kids and two adults, which was struck by a train last week, has been arrested on 29 counts of child neglect.
She was also cited for failing to stop at a railroad crossing and is no longer employed with the district.
According to Sumter County records, 67-year-old Yvonne Hampton was arrested Monday for the child neglect charges.
An arrest report states her voice could be heard on video saying, “Not gonna stop for no train.”
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 said she saw the 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 said the train clipped the back of the bus, and the driver is no longer employed with the district as of Thursday.
“A matter of 6 inches is the difference in all of this, and it could have been an extremely catastrophic situation,” Brown said in a social media video released on Monday.
Brown said the bus driver, employed with the district since August 2015, was terminated following the incident. He also praised the train conductor’s response, calling him “a hero in this situation.”
News 6’s Tylisa Hampton looked at Yvonne Hampton’s personnel file with the school district. She had all “good” or “excellent” evaluations prior to this incident.
[BELOW: School bus driver cited and no longer employed with district after Sumter County train crash]
Effective immediately, Brown said all district buses will avoid the East Central Avenue crossing and reroute to one of four signal-controlled crossings.
“It’s one of those things that opens your eyes, and we know we have to change our processes,” Brown said.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office confirmed 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.
Brown said the incident has prompted the district to review bus driver qualifications, railroad crossing procedures and route planning.
In response, the district is making immediate changes. Bus routes will no longer include the crossing where the crash occurred, citing the lack of a traffic signal and limited space for buses.
Luckily, no one was injured.
“I wanted to cry. I immediately started to pray afterward because it was a lot,” Armstrong said.
Meanwhile, students described the terrifying moments leading up to the crash.
“I felt scared, terrified, because all I could see was the train hitting the bus,” one student said.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said it plans to have an incident report ready by Monday.