Dispatch calls from crash involving school bus released

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) – The 9-1-1 calls from the frightening crash involving a semi and a school bus on Wednesday have been released.

The driver of the semi is currently in Columbia County Jail, expected to be charged with an OWI.

Operator: “Colombia County 9-1-1?”

Caller 1: “A semi drifted into a school bus and took out about half of the bus.”

One by one, drivers and passengers began describing what they had seen.

Caller 2: “I saw the truck way before he hit the bus and he was driving clear off the road and then back on. I couldn’t believe when there’s only one bus alongside the road that this semi smashed into it.”

The school bus carrying 33 people was on its way to a Wisconsin Dells graduation trip for students for Hope Semper in Milwaukee. The bus had pulled over for a mechanical issue just before the crash.

Operator: “How bad does the damage look?”

Caller 1: “Bad. Really bad.”

Operator: “Okay.”

Caller 2: “I saw the kids running out on the field.”

Four people on the bus were seriously hurt with two needing to be airlifted to a hospital. One of those victims was Alexa Jenkins.

“She has a broken leg, a broken bone in her shoulder”, described Alexa’s grandmother Nika Jenkins. “She has a breathing tube in her chest to help her breath.”

While family and friends hold strongly for each other, they have a request for the community as they move forward in the healing process.

“To pray for us and for her to get better,” says Aika.

If you’d like to help with Alex’s medical expenses, you can do so here.