One student was injured while riding in Randolph County school bus #341 around 6:30 a.m. on the morning of December 6, 2010.
The school bus was on Charles Mountain Road near Hogan Farm Trail heading for Southwest Randolph County High School when it ran off the road and into a ditch.
NC Highway Patrol Trooper Frye said that the driver of the bus, Stewart Ray Gatlin, 47, of Seagrove, fell asleep at the wheel.
Mr. Gatlin—who has been driving a school bus for four years—stated that he took “allergy medication Sunday night and believes it may not have been out of his system,” according to an article on myfox8.com.
Mr. Gatlin was issued two citations by the NC Highway Patrol: driving left of center and exceeding safe speed.
Despite a weekend snow storm in central North Carolina, Randolph County Schools were operating on a normal schedule Monday morning. The inclement weather was not a factor in the accident.
The injured student was checked out by emergency medical services for elbow pain. There were four other students and the school bus driver in the vehicle at the time of the accident.