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However, six children who complained of various pains were taken to area hospitals, Old Tappan Police Chief Thomas Shine told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The driver of the pickup also had to be placed on a backboard and taken to the hospital, the chief said.
The bus had just left nearby Camp Shalom with 43 schoolchildren — ranging in age from 5 to 12 — a camp aide and the driver when it hit the pickup as it slowed to turn into a driveway, Shine said.
The driver of the D&M Tours No. 214 bus was conscious and alert but suffering from moderate to serious pain, the chief said.
He was taken to Englewood Medical Center, Shine said.
Four of the children were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center and two to Englewood, he said.
“The bus was very hot once it stopped, so officers took the children off and sat them on the lawn of a private residence in the positions they were seated on the bus,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
“They were all assigned seats, so we went by the chart,” he said.
Another bus was brought up to transport children to a staging area, where parents had to show identification to pick up their youngsters — a necessary safety precaution, Shine said.
“We’re glad that it wasn’t more serious than it was,” the chief said.
Police spoke with the driver, 46-year-old Angel Valentin, as part of an ongoing investigation that’s expected to keep police busy into the night.
The pickup was towed from the scene, Shine said.
Meanwhile, he said, the school bus was driven to a nearby parking lot. The bus company sent a tow truck for it, the chief said.
PHOTOS: Courtesy MyFoxNY
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