Photos/Video: One Minor Injury Reported After School Bus Crashes on Bakers Basin Road in Lawrence Twp.

A school bus loaded with 51 students on their way to Slackwood Elementary School veered off Bakers Basin Road, knocking down a road sign and sideswiping several trees, this morning, Friday, Feb. 25.

Luckily, there were no injuries to anyone on the bus, except for an 8-year-old boy who complained of pain to a thumb, according to Lt. Charles Edgar, spokesman for Lawrence Township police.

Edgar said the 8-year-old was showered with glass when a window next to him was shattered by one of the trees sideswiped by the bus. He said the boy was treated on scene by a township ambulance crew and did not require transport to a hospital.

The bus driver, Silas Lennon, 26, of Lawrence, was issued a ticket for careless driving, Edgar said.

The bus is owned by George Dapper Inc., an Iselin-based school transportation company that operates a facility on Whitehead Road in Hamilton. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the accident.

The accident occurred about 7:40 a.m. as the school bus was traveling west – toward Route 1 - through the 200 block of Bakers Basin Road. Edgar said the bus skidded off the road and, after narrowly missing a utility pole, hit the road sign and trees before finally coming to a stop in the mud.

When he was interviewed by police, Lennon claimed the bus hydroplaned on the wet road as it rounded a curve, however that account remains under investigation by Officer James Smith, Edgar said.

Slackwood School Principal Patricia Wendell and other township school district officials hurried to the scene to join several police officers, including Police Chief Daniel Posluszny, in checking on the welfare of the students.

After it was clear that no one had been badly hurt, students were transferred to a second Dapper bus to continue their journey to school.

With the right side of the wrecked bus resting against the trees, police and school officials removed students by way of the exit at the rear of the bus. After being lifted to the ground one at a time, students walked over to the new bus.

Today is Slackwood School’s Teddy Bear Day, and several children could be seen carrying stuffed animals as they moved between the buses.

A check of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s School Bus Inspection database shows that Dapper Bus #449 – the bus involved in today’s accident – was ordered to be taken out of service in October after it failed inspection for a “calipers/rotors” brake violation. The bus was later approved for use after it passed a reinspection.