CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga.,None — The truck driver who collided with a Cherokee County school bus carrying six children says he put his own life in danger to protect the kids.
In an exclusive interview with Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones, Richie McKnight said, "I sacrificed myself and my life to basically save the kids."
McKnight swerved to avoid hitting the part of the bus where the kids were sitting and deputies said that prevented serious injuries, if not the loss of life.
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That's why some are calling the truck driver for Elite Hauling a hero.
McKnight brushes it all off.
"I just was so thankful that the kids were alright," McKnight said.
McKnight said his brush with death began Tuesday morning as he traveled near Hightower and Lovelace Lane near Canton. McKnight said he was in a tractor trailer carrying almost 27 tons of trash to be delivered to a landfill. He has traveled the area several times and said he is familiar with the landscape.
As he came over a hill, McKnight said he saw the school bus stopped in the road.
"She was just sitting," McKnight said.
McKnight said he was traveling 55 mph and was going too fast to stop. He knew a collision was impending and his only thought was how to avoid any children being seriously hurt, or killed.
"Knowing that the impact shouldn't be the body of the bus because that's where lives are. That's where people are," he explained.
So he steered his truck towards the front of the bus where the engine sits. The collision caused his truck to careen down a steep ravine and crash.
"I went down into the embankment and all I heard was trees and bamming, knocking up against the motor and I went up under the dash," McKnight vividly described.
The impact knocked him unconscious momentarily. The truck was so mangled emergency crews had to cut him out of it.
"They said I shouldn't have made it. That's what the paramedics said. There's no way that anybody should come out of this," he said in amazement.
As he walked on crutches and grimaced from the pain in his legs, head and back, he said the decision he made to swerve was worth it.
"I know the training that they tell you to do is to keep straight on, but when I seen that yellow bus, my mind, I got kids. My mind told me don't do this. You avoid them as much as possible," McKnight said. And that's what he did, even though it could have cost him his life.
"I sacrificed myself and my life to basically save the kids," McKnight recounted.
The bus driver, Lisa Spince, remains hospitalized and Georgia State Patrol troopers said charges are pending against her for her role in the crash.
Meanwhile, McKnight wonders what she was thinking.
"I'm upset that she wasn't being safe," he stated.
Four children were treated for minor injuries.
Because McKnight's truck was demolished, he will be out of a job for months until Elite Hauling can get another one.
McKnight's neighbor approached Jones and said how proud he was of McKnight. Fred Dixon then quietly explained that McKnight, his wife and four children, are having a hard time making ends meet. Dixon said McKnight's car was recently repossessed, and without a job, it will be even tougher on them.
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He asked the public to do for McKnight what he did for the children on that bus.
"Bless this hero. Bless him as much as you can," Dixon said with emotion in his voice.
McKnight said he can't get the memory of the crash out of his mind.
"If something had happened to those kids or anything more tragic had happened, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself with that," McKnight said.
Deputies say thanks to his courageous actions, he shouldn't have a problem living with himself.