SUV driver’s video appears to show school bus running a red light before collision

A school bus carrying three students ran a red light before crashing into an SUV at a Windsor, Ont., intersection last week, a video provided by the SUV driver appears to show.

“I’ve been in minor accidents before [but] not like this violent,” the SUV driver, Mounish Katragadda, told the CBC. 

The students weren’t hurt, according to a spokesperson for the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board.

Katragadda said he proceeded into the intersection at College and Wellington avenues as the light turned yellow, expecting that the bus would stop at the red light but it didn’t. The dash-cam video he also showed to police also supports his story. 

“[The school bus] hit my SUV straight up … T-boned me and the car flew … right at the utility pole, and then that’s when we came to a stop,” he said. 

“Five years of me being in Windsor, I’ve never seen a school bus breaking any traffic laws.”

Katragadda said his vehicle is a write-off.

The Windsor Police Service said the bus driver was charged with running a red light. First Student, the school bus company that employs the driver, said it has put the driver on leave.

“The driver involved has been placed on administrative leave as we conduct our own internal review of the incident,” an emailed statement read. “Given this is an active investigation, we are unable to comment further.”

Katragadda said the fire department arrived about two minutes after the collision and police came a short time later. He said he never had contact with the bus driver.

Wife’s trip delayed

Katragadda said he was travelling with his brother in the passenger seat and his wife was in the rear passenger seat when the collision occurred. 

“That’s where the bus hit,” he said. “So she was the first one to take the impact.”

He said she’s shaken up and has had to miss work. At the time of the collision, they were en route to Pearson International Airport in Toronto so she could get a flight later that evening.

On the night of the crash, Kataragadda said, they left the hospital before getting treated because there was a four-hour wait.

Katragadda said changing her flight cost him about $500 and she has been missing work.

“Probably for my wife I should be filing a lawsuit against the bus company because it’s something that’s no fault of ours,” he said. 

“She would be in India doing her normal chores and she would be back to work.”