Investigators search for driver who fled after hitting school bus

ATLANTA — Atlanta police are searching for the driver of a pickup truck that witnesses said struck a school bus Wednesday afternoon.

The driver took off, leaving behind 29 rattled students complaining of minor injuries and pains.

The Douglass High School students were taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding to be checked out. Their parents were called and told to pick them up at the Hospital.

"My mind was just going everywhere. I didn't know what to think really," said parent Larry Cobb outside the hospital.

His daughter, Laquisha, was one of the students riding on Bus 690 when it was struck.

"The bus just shook and the bus driver stomped on the brakes," Laquisha said.

She wasn't hurt, but was checked over just as a precaution.

"He should learn how to drive," said fellow student Adrian Elliott of the pickup truck driver. "I felt like the bus was going to tip over. When he hit us, you could feel, from the second seat, you could feel all the vibrations of him hitting us."

The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon on Hightower Road in northwest Atlanta.

Witnesses describe the truck as a white Ford pickup with a tool box on the back.

"Even if he wasn't on any medication or anything he should still get arrested because there was children on the bus," said Elliott.

Parents and students alike hope the driver is caught quickly.

"He can run but he can't hide. That was just wrong because someone could have seriously got hurt. He could have at least stopped and seen what was going on," Cobb said.

WSBTV