EMSA: Pickup Truck Driver Dead Following Crash With Tulsa Public Schools Bus

By Ashli Sims, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Minutes after a Tulsa Public Schools bus ended up nose-first in a ditch, the students on board were on cell phones, calling home.

"She called and said she was in a wreck. she was crying,  somewhat, on the phone. So I came as quick as I could," said Delmecio Riser, who is the uncle of a student on the bus.

Riser says his 18-year-old niece was on her way back to East Central High School from Vo-Tech, when the accident happened. 

"Yeah, she's shaken up. She says two other kids got hurt," Riser said.

The accident happened at about 2:45 Friday afternoon in the 1900 block of East 36th Street North.

Police say witnesses told them the driver of a turquoise pickup truck, who Tulsa Police identified as Floyd Durant, 64, was weaving erratically in and out of traffic.

Officers say Durant crossed the center line and smashed head-on into the school bus. Durant was killed.

"The truck was weaving in and out of traffic and driving dangerously. So that'll be one of the things we're gonna look at to determine if any alcohol was at play or if it was a medical issue, that's all that we're going to look at as this investigation unfolds," said Jason Willingham, Tulsa Police.

Emergency officials took eight of the 15 people on the bus to the hospital. The bus driver and her three children, as well as four East Central students, were all listed in fair condition. TPS reports the rest of the students on the bus were reunited with their parents.

"In this instance they all called their parents immediately and told them what had happened. And the parents made the determination whether or not they wanted their children to go to the hospital or meet up here with them," said Tami Marler, TPS Spokesperson.

Tulsa Public Schools says the driver of the school bus is 33-years-old and has been with the district since 2008.