16 Injured After Bus Carrying St. Ignatius Hockey Team Hit By Semi: Police

WARSAW, IN — Sixteen people, mostly children, are injured in connection with a crash Saturday in Indiana involving a Chicago school bus and a semitrailer driven by a man who appears to have been drunk, according to police.

The incident occurred shortly after 8 p.m. in Warsaw, when the semi rear-ended a bus carrying the St. Ignatius College Prep hockey team, police said. At least one student was ejected during the crash and three people suffered injuries considered “very critical,” according to police. As of late Sunday morning, all injured people were in stable condition, police said.

The driver of the semi, 58-year-old Victor Santos, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged with operating while intoxicated resulting in serious bodily injury, a level five felony, police said.

Shortly before the crash, police received reports of a semi with a New Jersey registration swerving, speeding and driving off the road, according to law enforcement. The semi ignored a red light, and then hit the bus at the intersection of Route 30 and Center Street, before continuing west and eventually driving into a ditch, police said.

The bus contained 23 students, ages 14-17, as well as two coaches and a driver, all of whom were in the area for a weekend hockey tournament in Culver, according to police. Three students are recovering from surgery in the wake of the crash, WGN reported.

“We will get through this together,” the school’s president said in a statement, according to WGN. “Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with them.”

Santos, who was placed on a 48-hour hold, smelled strongly of alcohol and was slurring his speech after the crash, police said. He failed field sobriety tests and refused a chemical test, according to police, who obtained a search warrant that allowed hospital staff to take a blood draw for testing.