In Iredell County, a bus that was carrying army reservists crashed on Friday afternoon. The bus was carrying a total of forty-five soldiers in it. It had the 991st Company of Transportation, which it was taking to the National Guard Armory in Salisbury from Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Justin Furr, a nineteen-year-old army reservist, was one of the people who were in the bus while the accident occurred. The army reservists were going back home after a tough training period of three weeks at Fort McCoy Army Base in Wisconsin.
Justin Furr said that he knew that one day if he was sent to fight overseas, he would definitely have the risk of losing his life because of bullets or because of other explosive devices, but he could never imagine that he would have to risk his life sitting in a bus.
On Friday, the soldiers were all taking a nap in the bus when the bus slipped because of the rain. Furr said that he woke up and saw that the bus was going over the hill. The scene was quite scary.
The bus was driving on a two-lane road when it tried stopping for a car taking a turn to the left. The brake was so hard that the bus slipped and tipped over on the right side of the road. Almost all the windows of that side shattered. Furr was also sitting on the right side, so he fell on the side with the bus and other people. The army reservists in confusion started screaming, shouting, crying, and running and stampeded over Furr.
The bus slid about eight feet down. Furr said that many of the soldiers got their bones broken, and one of them even had a fractured hip. Another soldier has possible damage to his spleen, Furr added.
The N.C. Highway Patrol reported that 15 of the injured soldiers were given treatments on the spot, and the rest (twenty-nine) were taken to hospital.
Master Sgt. Patrick Compton, who is an army spokesman, said that by Saturday, all of the injured soldiers recovered and so were released from the hospital. Only one, whose name is Spc. Rodney McDonalds, was still kept in the hospital at Lake Norman Regional Medical Centre in Mooresville. Compton said that Rodney McDonalds was in better condition now.
Compton also said that McDonalds was slowly recovering, and that his condition was gradually improving. He said that McDonald is sore, but he has his spirits high.
Furr was a mechanic for the Army Reserve. He was working in a Salisbury warehouse for Food Lion as a civilian. Furr did not get any major injuries, but he knew that unlike him, many of his fellow soldiers were not that lucky.
The bus driver, Christopher Reed of Randleman, had a good record of driving, but he still got charged with a traffic infraction. This is because he slammed on the brakes to avoid collision with the car in front of it.