Five children hospitalized after bus collision sends car into Winter Haven daycare

Five children were taken to a hospital with minor injuries Monday morning, Nov. 2, after a car struck a daycare in Winter Haven, Florida, following a collision with a Citrus Connection bus, according to the Winter Haven Police Department. The sedan's driver also was hospitalized.

Police said the bus and sedan collided before the car went off the roadway and hit Private Christian School Child Care. The five injured children were inside the daycare when the vehicle struck the building. Authorities described the sedan driver's injuries as non-life-threatening.

An employee at a business next door described hearing the collision and then seeing the car crash into the school. George Aguilar, who works at Gold Star Pawn and Gun, said the noise first caught his attention because it sounded like a car crash.

Aguilar said he saw the bus come to a stop and watched a blue sedan roll and strike the school. He then called 911. His account described the moments surrounding the impact, while police provided the information about the children and driver who were taken to the hospital.

Aguilar said being a father himself made him feel that he needed to act quickly. He described hearing crying and screaming from toward the back of the daycare as he checked the area around where the car had crashed. He said he did not see blood in the area he checked.

Afterward, Aguilar asked whether the children were all right. He said he was told that they were, a response that brought him relief. Recalling that exchange, Aguilar said, "So I was like, 'Oh, thank God.'" Police subsequently reported that five children had been transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

Aguilar also described crashes as a fairly frequent occurrence in the area and said many motorists drive through it at high speeds. Those observations were part of his eyewitness account. Police did not identify a cause for Monday morning's collision in the information provided.

The Winter Haven Police Department said the cause remained under investigation. Its account established the sequence in which the bus collision was followed by the sedan leaving the roadway and striking the daycare.