A driver fled after a collision with a school bus in Columbia on Thursday morning, according to state police.
Police said the driver of an early 90s green Ford Explorer hit the left rear bumper of the school bus on Route 6 by Edgarton Road that had stopped to pick up two school children just after 8 a.m.
Fourteen children between the ages of 4 and 12 were on the bus heading to Horace W. Porter School at the time. No children were injured. Students were put on another bus and at the school by 8:45 a.m.
The Ford Explorer has front right side damage, a broken right side view mirror and a broken right front window, troopers said.
"The whole bus shook and it sounded like a tire popped," 10-year-old Jaycee Diaz said.
The sixth-grader was on the bus when the SUV crashed into it.
"He could have stopped and asked if we were OK, but he didn’t," Diaz said about the driver.
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Theresa Legasse is the parent of a student at Horace W. Porter School, a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade facility. While her son wasn’t on the bus involved in the crash, she’s disgusted that the person responsible would drive away.
"This is a quiet little town, we don’t experience those things here normally," Legasse said.
Columbia School District Superintendent Lol Fearon said the bus was mid-route at the time of the crash. All parents with students on that bus were immediately notified by phone and email about it and then updated when students were deemed safe.
The bus was inspected and allowed to finish the route, Fearon said.
"When you see those yellow flashing lights come on the bus, you know that the bus is preparing to stop and those red lights come on, you must stop," said Trooper Kelly Grant with the Connecticut State Police.
Anyone who sees a vehicle matching this description should call Troop K at (860) 465-5400.
