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New York School Bus Driver Dies Days After Crash

Denise Schmidt reportedly suffers a medical event, slumps over the wheel, and the bus accelerates and crashes into a tree. The coach and 22 students on board are not injured.

Nicole Schlosser
Nicole SchlosserFormer Executive Editor
September 10, 2019
2 min to read


MONTGOMERY, N.Y. — A school bus driver who reportedly suffered a medical event and was involved in a crash while driving students home from a sporting event on Friday died two days later.

A notice posted to the Warwick Valley Central School District website on Friday stated that at about 7:15 p.m. on Friday, a bus driver who was transporting 22 students who are members of the girls varsity tennis team was involved in a crash, hitting a tree after entering an exit ramp. No students were injured and the driver was taken to the hospital, according to the district. Parents were notified and the Warwick High School principal joined students and waited with them until they had all been picked up by their parents.

The bus driver, identified as Denise Schmidt by the Daily Freeman, was bringing the students home from a 4 p.m. match, according to the Times Herald-Record.

Schmidt was about to merge the bus onto Interstate 84 when she slumped over the wheel and the bus accelerated onto the entrance ramp, the Daily Freeman reports. Police said that the bus traveled off the shoulder and into a ravine before hitting a tree, according to the news source. The right side of the bus was damaged, according to the Times Herald-Record.

Police also said, according to the Daily Freeman, that none of the students aboard, who ranged in age from 15 years old to 17 years old, or the coach, were injured. Two students were performing CPR on Schmidt when troopers arrived. First responders continued CPR and took her to the hospital, the news source reports.

Schmidt died on Sunday, the Daily Freeman reports.

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