September 30, 2020
By News Director Jared Atha
A commercial bus that picked up its driver in Elk City was involved in an accident in the Texas Panhandle Monday morning where the driver was killed.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety the accident occurred in Oldham County, Texas, west of Amarillo on Interstate 40 in a construction zone when the driver, 71-year-old Jerry Buckner, for an unknown reason, drove out of his lane of travel into the lane that was closed due to construction. The bus then traveled through traffic direction cones and struck multiple concrete overpass support beams which had been stored on the outside lane and shoulder of the roadway. Buckner died on the scene.
According to the report, 25 passengers were on board the bus at the time of the accident. Three passengers were transported to Amarillo Northwest Texas Hospital with serious injuries. Two passengers were transported by ambulance to Amarillo Northwest Texas Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. 13 passengers were transported by ambulance to the hospital in Hereford with minor injuries. The remaining passengers were uninjured and transported to a church in Vega where they awaited another charter bus to take them to Albuquerque.
The DPS noted that the crash remains under investigation. The report did not indicate that other vehicles were involved in the mishap and that no construction workers were injured as well.
