School leaders in Normal are praising the response from the community following a deadly head-on collision on Interstate 74 Wednesday night. A long-time Unit 5 volunteer…72-year-old Charlie Crabtree of Normal…died when a semi tractor trailer hit the school bus on which he was riding head-on. The truck driver, 34-year-old Ryan Hute of Delmar, Iowa, also died.
The bus was hauling members of the Normal West Junior Varsity Girls Basketball team following a game in Champaign. Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel and Normal West High School Principal Dave Johnson said today that all of the girls who were injured are now out of the hospital.
Johnson said many people stopped by the grieving school Wednesday night to help…
State Police say the semi was traveling the wrong way on the interstate when it hit the bus head-on.
A varsity basketball game which was scheduled for tonight (Thursday) will be played, but there will be no junior varsity game. School officials say the decision to go ahead with the varsity game was made after team members requested that it not be cancelled.
Normal West High School Principal Dave Johnson adds the freshman basketball coach, Steve Price, suffered multiple broken bones which will require surgery, but is on the road to recovery. The driver of the school bus…whose name was not immediately released…was reported in critical condition today (Thursday).
