DUI crash involving school bus in Floyd County

FLOYD COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A driver ran head-on into a school bus filled with children, minutes after the bus left a Floyd County school Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities have charged that driver with DUI.

Medics rushed more than a dozen children to the hospital, but as authorities said it's a miracle no one was seriously injured. At the time, there were 29 model elementary, middle and high school aged children on board. In all, state troopers said 16 children went to the hospital, seven by ambulance from the scene. All of the injuries were minor.

It was hard to miss the orange markings on Calhoun Road near Perry Road where state troopers said a mother driving under the influence went head-on into a Floyd County school bus.

Photos shared with FOX 5 News show the severity of the crash immediately following it. Pictured was the frontend of a mangled white Buick LeSabre with a shattered windshield and a Floyd County school bus missing its entire front end.

The driver of the car now troopers identify as 33-year-old Mandy Coast was also transported to the hospital with broken bones. FOX 5 News has learned at the time, Coast had her 3-month-old baby in the car along with her 3-year-old. She was apparently on her way to pick up her third kid.

Georgia State Patrol troopers said Coast was driving northbound on Calhoun Road near Perry Road when she veered into the southbound lane, overcorrected, slid into the shoulder lane, and then overcorrected again. That’s when troopers said she came back into the southbound lane and straight into the bus.

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Now, the veteran bus diver of 30 years, identified as Joyce Phillips, is being praised for keeping her cool and keeping the kids safe.

Coast was charged with DUI-drugs, failure to maintain lane, two counts of endangering a child under 14 while DUI. Troopers said they are awaiting the toxicology results.