Nassau, BAHAMAS- A police bus used to ferry prisoners from court rolled over after a collision with a private car on Monday.
The two-vehicle wreck sent seven people to hospital, including the five police officers on the bus. A man and woman in a private car were also sent to hospital.
The accident happened as The Toyota Coaster bus headed back to the court complex after dropping off inmates to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.
The collision occurred shortly before 2pm on March 23, police said.
Chief Superintendent Craig Stubbs, head of the Police Traffic Division, said the bus was headed west on Robinson Road, as another car was headed north onto Marathon Road when the collision occurred.
Footage of collision showed onlookers working feverishly to free the officers trapped inside the bus.
As white smoke billowed from the vehicle’s exhaust system, the officers escaped the wreck by breaking the back windshield.
Citizens lifted the wounded officers onto the sidewalk as they grimaced in pain.
Meanwhile, the woman passenger in the private car collapsed to the ground in pain after exiting the vehicle. Footage showed the driver rendering assistance.
According to Stubbs, none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Stubbs urged drivers to stop and pull to the side when emergency vehicles turned on their sirens.
Stubbs said, “The law requires that when you hear emergency vehicles that you pull to the side. We encourage all drivers to pull to the side and let the police continue their journey.”
However, Stubbs quickly added, “We don’t know if that was the case here at this scene.”
Stubbs said police hoped to reconstruct the accident from eyewitness accounts and CCTV footage.
It’s happened before
This is not the first accident involving a police prisoner transport vehicle.
In June 2018, a police convoy headed to the prison crashed to a car neat the Sidney Poitier Bridge.
During that incident, a police cruiser leading the police bus taking inmates back to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services crashed into a car with four occupants.
The police car was headed east on East Bay Street, as the car was headed north on Church Street towards the Sidney Poitier Bridge.
Occupants of both vehicles were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries. The police received damage and the prisoners were unharmed.
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