Close call for kids on LPS bus, truck slams into house

Posted By: Sarah Fili

sfili@klkntv.com

Around 12:30 Thursday afternoon, homeowner Connie Rader says she got a phone call from her neighbor telling her to get home right away, because a moving truck had crashed into their home at Holdrege and Urbana Lane, near 70th.

“I was very shook up and scared I couldn’t even think straight and I was shaking like a leaf. and I got here as soon as I could and when I got here seeing what I seen was  very big shock,” Rader said.

She and her husband Gordon Rader rushed home, they say, to find a school bus with children inside had rammed into a truck.

"I guess a school bus ran a stop sign and a moving truck missed the school bus and hit our house,” Gordon Rader said.

Now, buried in the rubble just inside are a prized mustang and three furry family members.

“We have three dogs and they were in the room that got hit and there was also storage in there and all the storage has been pushed over on the three dogs, it came through the wall, and my husband wants to take them to the vet,” Rader said.

They say the walls were also shifted on impact, knocking over cans of black paint that the pups tracked all through the house. They also say the truck driver hopped out and ran up to the Raders.

"He just kept apologizing and telling me he was sorry and that he didn’t want to hit our house but he really didn’t have a choice because there was a car in the middle lane and he didn’t want to hit the bus with all the children on it, but he didn’t want to hit that little car because he was worried about hurting them,” Rader said.

The truck driver slammed on the brakes so hard, he snapped an axle of his truck, prompting a Haz Mat response from rescue crews. Miraculously, no one was hurt, and the pups seem to be fine. The Raders are cleaning up and hope they’ll have everything fixed for the holidays.
 

"We have 8 kids between and we’re going to have thanksgiving we hope!"