SIU seeks witnesses one week after school bus-truck crash sends children to hospital

A week after several children were taken to hospital following a crash involving a school bus and a truck, the SIU is appealing for witnesses.

A week after several children were taken to the hospital following a crash involving a school bus and a truck, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is calling on the public’s help.

Investigators say the collision happened on Highway 11 in Orillia just before 7:30 a.m. on April 16, involving a Simcoe County District School Board bus that was servicing Twin Lakes.

A 16-year-old girl on the bus was transported to the hospital, now suffering serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

• RELATED: Children hospitalized after school bus and dump truck crash on Hwy. 11

The SIU says the incident may involve an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer, who at the time was stopped on the off-ramp to Forestview Road in a cruiser with emergency lights activated. Reportedly the OPP vehicle was partially on the northbound lanes of the highway.

At the same time, a school bus travelling northbound collided with a transport truck, causing the truck to rollover. The Oro-Medonte Fire Department confirmed that the driver of the truck was extricated and taken to the hospital.

In an update to the investigation, dashcam video obtained by investigators shows that a dark-coloured Jeep Wrangler SUV heading northbound, along with other vehicles driving southbound, was near the scene at the time and may have witnessed the incident.

The driver of the Jeep, along with anyone travelling along the route at the time or anyone with additional dashcam footage of the collision, is now being asked to come forward.

The SIU is responsible for investigating incidents involving police in Ontario that result in serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault.