A naked woman was in the semitruck that plowed into a school bus Monday as it prepared to unload students on U.S. Highway 301, about 35 minutes north of Gainesville.
The semitruck — driven by Shannon Sherrell Ford of Interlachen, Florida — did not stop, pushing the school bus off the roadway north of Starke, Florida, and through a ditch running along the highway’s south shoulder.
The school bus — driven by Jennifer Lynn Swanson, 37, of Starke — continued to move south before stopping along the right shoulder.
Following the impact, the semitruck continued south and jack-knifed before stopping in a ditch.
Ford, 35, and his passenger, Sherry Ford, 34, were seriously injured and transported to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville for treatment. Sherry Ford was partially nude, but it’s not clear whether she was in the cabin or in the sleeper at the time of the accident, according to The Associate Press.
Swanson and three of the children on the bus were transported to Shands Starke Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. Another three were taken to Shands and one to Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville for treatment.
After the crash, the bus sat in a field of overgrown grass on the side of the highway, the back left corner partially peeled off.
The semitruck was in pieces as officers in bright yellow vests patrolled the scene.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/1/2014]
