Driver of School Bus Carrying Stillwater Nordic Ski Team Blacks Out, Crashes into Ditch

A school bus driver apparently blacked out on Tuesday afternoon and drove a bus carrying about a dozen members of the Stillwater area Nordic ski team into the ditch.

No students were injured.

“It is suspected the bus driver blacked out while driving the bus out of the Oak-Land Junior High parking lot,” Carissa Keister, community engagement coordinator of the Stillwater Area School District told Patch on Tuesday afternoon.

The bus was taking Nordic ski team members from Oak Land to Stillwater Area High School, Keister said. The bus crossed Manning Ave and ended up in the ditch.

The driver was conscious when emergency responders arrived on the scene, Keister said. The driver was transported by ambulance to the hospital.

Students returned to Oak-Land where they are meeting with the principal and school counselors, Keister said. Parents of the students have been notified and will be picking their children up at Oak-Land.