A Florida driver fleeing a traffic stop allegedly crashed head-on into a Sumter County school bus carrying 19 children Tuesday morning, authorities said. All 19 children aboard the bus were safe and uninjured, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said.
The incident began about 7:20 a.m. when a deputy conducting school-zone traffic enforcement in front of The Villages Intermediate Center spotted 23-year-old Qahiem Williams allegedly driving 17 mph over the posted speed limit on County Road 466 near Tatonka Terrace, the sheriff’s office said. The deputy made a U-turn and activated emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop, authorities said.
Williams allegedly accelerated, sideswiping two vehicles at a traffic light. Those collisions damaged his vehicle’s axle and caused him to collide head-on with a Sumter County school bus on County Road 103, the sheriff’s office said. Video taken from inside the bus shows the collision, and body camera footage shows a deputy pursuing and later apprehending Williams near a Walmart, the office said.
Williams was taken into custody and faces multiple charges, including fleeing or eluding, driving with a suspended license, possession of marijuana, leaving the scene of a crash, resisting an officer, hit-and-run and a moving traffic violation, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office website. Authorities said he also had two outstanding Sumter County warrants for fleeing or eluding and driving with a suspended license. He was medically cleared before being transported to the Sumter County Detention Center and is being held without bond, the sheriff’s office said.
Sumter County Sheriff Patrick Breeden condemned the alleged actions, saying, “I have zero tolerance when it comes to actions that put our children’s lives in danger. This suspect has a history of this type of behavior and our community is safer with him off our streets,” the sheriff’s office quoted him as saying.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
