Update: School Bus Accident Still Under Investigation, Driver Suspended

Bus company officials are still investigating last week's school bus accident in Durham involving 16 students from Memorial Middle School.

The DATTCO bus was traveling north along Route 147 near Briarwood Lane on Sept. 26 when the bus left the road and struck a tree. The impact from the accident broke the bus' front right windshield, according to a police report.

None of the students on the bus was seriously hurt.

The driver of the bus, David Morrell, 72, of Chester, was issued an infraction by State Police for failure to drive in the established lane.

"He has been removed from service to the District and to our company while we conduct our investigation and we're still conducting it," DATTCO CEO Cliff Gibson told Patch on Friday. "He's not driving for us or any school district until we complete our investigation."

Gibson said Morrell has worked for DATTCO since 2009 and has a "good" driving record with the company.

The accident happened around 8 a.m.

Morrell did not stop the bus after the accident and continued driving to the school where the students were immediately checked by a nurse and staff, including Superintendent Susan Viccaro who was notified of the accident immediately.

"When stuff like this happens there are certain triggers and the right people show up because we've got the processes in place," Viccaro said.

Viccaro said the school notified each parent whose child was on the bus. In addition, she sent a letter to all of the school's parents on Thursday notifying them of the accident and the ongoing investigation.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation. Gibson said company policy requires bus drivers to stop in case of an accident, something Morrell did not do.

"Our policy is when you have an accident you stop and you report the accident. You pull the bus over to a safe location. Obviously we're investigating because we know that didn't happen in this case, he continued on to the school. Sometimes bus drivers have excellent reasons to continue on to the school and sometimes they don't," he said.