WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Rescue crews had to extricate a man from his vehicle after he collided with a private school bus in West Miami-Dade.
It happened along the southbound lanes of 137th Avenue approaching Northwest Sixth Street, sometime before 6 a.m., Friday.
7Skyforce flew over the scene, where Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews could be seen using the jaws of life to extricate the driver of the Toyota Camry. That driver was pulled out and transported to an area hospital. Miami-Dade Police said the driver is currently in critical condition.
Police do not yet know who was at fault. However, authorities said the private bus was pulling out of a bus barn when it collided with the vehicle traveling southbound on 137th Avenue.
Ramon Arbide, the bus driver, said he was on his way to begin his bus route to pick up children when he pulled out of the bus barn.
“I flew away from the seat and I fell into the stairs,” said Arbide.
The impact was so strong, the Toyota’s roof was completely ripped off and the bus hopped the median crashing into a barrier wall along the northbound lanes of 137th Avenue.
Arbide suffered minor injuries and remained on the scene to talk with police. He also spoke with 7News off camera, and said he was shaken up because it all happened so quickly.
“At the beginning, you don’t know what happened,” said Arbide. “And then you say, ‘Why’s this happening to me?'”
No children were on board at the time of the crash.
Authorities shut down 137th Avenue in both directions from Southwest Eight Street to the Dolphin Expressway for more than five hours as they conducted their investigation.
This is the same road, where a Miami Police Department officer was killed in a multi-vehicle crash, Tuesday. 7News actually spoke with some officers trying to make their way to officer Jorge Sanchez’s funeral, who are now unable to do so due to traffic delays.
Arbide, who has been operating his own bus service for 26 years, said a crash like this has him rethinking if he will get back behind the wheel of another bus. “Thinking whether I keep on going or not,” he said.
Drivers in the area said people do speed regularly in the area because they are getting off the Dolphin Expressway.
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