A multivehicle collision involving a school bus carrying the North Little Rock High School football team halted eastbound traffic on Interstate 40 for more than an hour Thursday afternoon, east of the JFK Boulevard overpass.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said troopers called to the scene at 3:15 p.m. determined that there had been two accidents.
An earlier collision had caused "traffic to come to a complete stop" on I-40. The driver of the school bus was not able to see that traffic had halted until he rounded a curve, at which point he "attempted to maneuver" through traffic, colliding with five vehicles, including a tractor-trailer, Sadler said.
He said no football players were injured, although one assistant coach was later treated for lacerations. There were no fatalities in either crash.
Darlene Holmes, secretary to North Little Rock School District Superintendent Kelly Rogers, said in an email Thursday afternoon that although none of the players appeared to be injured, they were taken to their training facility at Belwood Elementary School for medical examinations.
The team was traveling to War Memorial Stadium to play Little Rock Catholic in their first game of the football season. North Little Rock Athletic Director Gary Davis said the game was rescheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., half an hour late.
Metro on 09/05/2014