Pinellas School Bus Struck In Hit-And-Run

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Florida Highway Patrol is asking anyone with information about a hit-and-run crash involving a Pinellas County school bus on Monday to come forward.

According to the agency, the school bus was stopped in traffic facing west on 118th Avenue North at 49th Street North around 4:20 p.m. At that time, a pickup truck tried to pass the bus in the road’s center grass median.

The attempt to pass didn’t go as planned, a highway patrol report said. The truck’s driver struck the left rear of the bus and then took off from the scene. The driver of the bus, John Joseph Burns, 58, of Clearwater and the eight middle school children on board at the time were not injured.

Troopers say the suspect vehicle is believed to be a white work truck. The first few numbers of the license plate may be 247 or 287.

No further information is available at this time.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the patrol at 813-631-4020.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol

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