Chuck Gates was making his way to work when he found himself caught up in a bit of traffic.
"The block before the intersection was closed off," he recalled. He added, "I realized the road was closed. I wasn't sure why, so I drove around."
Chuck finally arrived at his office, resuming his typical routine. But that was all quickly interrupted.
He suddenly received a text message from his wife, who relayed some frightening news that she saw on Facebook.
The traffic jam that Chuck had sat in that very morning was caused by an SUV hitting a school bus — his daughter's school bus.
A man named Ernesto Blackbourne was driving a stolen vehicle while intoxicated and zoomed passed a stop sign, right into the side of the bus with Gates' daughter. The incident was what had caused his driving delay. Blackbourne was arrested on the scene for grand larceny, DUI, and not possessing a license at the time of the accident. Although all of the children involved (including Gates' daughter) were unharmed, something still wasn't sitting well with him and his wife.
"Unfortunately, in this case, we didn't learn about it until we had seen it through social media. After that, we got a phone call from the school," Gates explained, unimpressed with the way he was informed.
His daughter's school has since apologized and have told Gates that they are going to do their best to improve the notification process for future events. Even though the situation was not handled in the most ideal way, it is important to note that the five children on that impacted school bus were not hurt in any way that day. It's always good to keep things in perspective.
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