Teddy bears, prayer to commemorate deadly Huntsville school bus wreck

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- When the clock strikes 10: 10 a.m. today, Willie Hinton Sr., like so many others in this community, will say a prayer to mark the moment when a school bus filled with Lee High School students plunged from an Interstate 565 overpass one week earlier.

Hinton's son was one of 40 students on the bus going to the Huntsville Center for Technology. Two teenage girls were killed at the scene and two others later died from their injuries. Hinton's son was seriously injured, but survived.

"I will take time to do that," Hinton said of his quiet prayer time. "I'll do it just as a reminder of how grateful and how thankful we are and should be."

Huntsville City Schools spokesman Keith Ward said officials will spend this week trying to get back into a normal routine while still acknowledging students' grief as some of those injured in the crash return to school and classes resume at the tech center.

Students now will be bused to the center using a route that doesn't include taking I-565.

Classes at Lee would be dismissed at 11:30 a.m. today to allow students and staff to attend the funeral for 17-year-old Crystalle Renee McCrary, who died Tuesday.

Thousands of mourners attended three other funerals over the holiday weekend. Nicole Sharika Ford, 19, was buried Friday, while Tanesha Estella Hill, 17, and Christine Collier, a 16-year-old sophomore, were laid to rest on Saturday.

Several of the injured students attended the weekend funerals, their crutches and visible limps, cuts and bruises making them easy to spot.

School officials announced last week that not-for-profit charitable organization Hugs Across America would donate and deliver 900 teddy bears to Lee High School students today and Ward said grief counselors would be at the campus "just as long as they need to be."

He said all schools in the city have a moment of silence following the Pledge of Allegiance, but said there would likely be another observation at approximately 10:10 a.m.

"I'm sure they'll have some announcements and pause for a moment of silence," Ward said. "There's a long, long pathway to recovery."

Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer had ordered flags to fly at half-staff after the tragedy and Ward said flags at the city's schools will be lowered until after McCrary's funeral.

Local officials and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, which involved a car being driven by a Lee High School student.

Witnesses say that car came up on a side lane and apparently hit the bus, which rammed into concrete railing on I-565 and toppled over, plunging about 30 feet and crashing nose-first into Church Street.

Police have not released the student driver's name while the crash is under investigation.

Scott, the bus driver, was found critically injured on the overpass and has been unable to speak with investigators, who are uncertain how he exited the bus before it crashed.

Huntsville Hospital spokesman Burr Ingram said counselors were on hand for hospital employees and said staff members there were looking to return to normal after the hectic week. He said he'd be among those reflecting on the moment that "broke Huntsville's heart."

"It was really a moment for our community to pull together. Everyone connected to helped Huntsville pull through a very, very difficult week," he said. "I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will take a moment to pause and remember what a difference a week makes."