Three injured in crash on Ky. 313

A three-vehicle wreck Thursday morning on Joe Prather Highway in Radcliff sent one person to Hardin Memorial Hospital and two more to University Hospital in Louisville with critical injuries.

Jill Pickett

A Transit Authority of Central Kentucky bus collided with an SUV on Thursday morning along Joe Prather Highway. According to police, the SUV was pushed into the path of the bus by a concrete pump truck.

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Jill Pickett

A wreck involving an SUV, a Transit Authority of Central Kentucky bus and a concrete pump truck, not pictured, blocks Joe Prather Highway on Thursday morning after victims had been transported for care.

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At least one of those injured was a Hardin County Schools student, said HCS spokesman John Wright.

Bryce Shumate, spokesman for Radcliff Police Department, said a Chevrolet Geo Tracker was stopped around 7:15 a.m. in the eastbound lane on Ky. 313, preparing to turn left onto Education Avenue to go to Woodland Elementary School.

According to Shumate, the vehicle was waiting for westbound traffic to clear.

“They were doing what they were supposed to do,” he said.

For unknown reasons, a concrete pump truck, also eastbound on Ky. 313, failed to stop and struck the rear of the Tracker, Shumate said.

The force of the collision pushed the SUV into oncoming traffic, he said, and a westbound Transit Authority of Central Kentucky bus struck the side of the vehicle.

Shumate said he was not able to release the names of those involved in the wreck Thursday because RPD’s investigation was in preliminary stages.

According to Shumate, there was a driver and one passenger in the Tracker, and the two sustained the most serious injuries.

“The SUV was torn up pretty bad,” he said.

Radcliff Fire Chief Jamie Henderson said firefighters extricated the Tracker’s occupants from the vehicle before they could be transported to a hospital.

James Miller, Hardin County EMS supervisor at the scene, said the ambulance service took three patients to HMH. From there, two were airlifted to University Hospital with “critical injuries,” he said.

According to Miller, the third patient was in the TACK bus.

Contacted to confirm the bus’ involvement, a TACK official declined to comment, saying he was “not at liberty to discuss that.”

Ky. 313 was closed for about two hours Thursday morning while crews cleared the scene, Shumate said.

In addition to Radcliff officers, Vine Grove police responded to assist with traffic, he said.

According to Wright, the closure did not have an impact on school-bound traffic because buses already had arrived at their respective schools.

Wright said he was unable to provide the injured student’s school affiliation or grade level because the district and faculty were trying to determine how to communicate the child’s status to other classmates.

“We have not shared information with that particular student’s (classmates),” he said, “There’s not a whole lot new that we can share with them.”

The school’s principal visited University Hospital and scheduled a meeting Thursday afternoon with faculty to discuss how they were going to talk to the student’s classmates, Wright said.

“They just need to see what happens with the student,” he said.

Sarah Bennett can be reached at (270) 505-1750 or sbennett@thenewsenterprise.com.