Bus carrying Chippewa Falls High School faculty,students crashes when returning from state band competition
By: Nathaniel Shuda
Posted: 10/17/05
CHIPPEWA FALLS - Hundreds of people gathered solemnly in the cafeteria at Chippewa Falls High School Sunday evening for a memorial service for five people who died, including one UW-Eau Claire student, in a bus crash early Sunday morning.
Senior Branden Atherton, along with four other people, died when the charter bus carrying students, faculty members and chaperones from Chippewa Falls High School crashed into the undercarriage of an overturned semi truck around 2 a.m. on Interstate 94 just north of Osseo, according to school officials and the Wisconsin State Patrol.
"We haven't ruled anything out.." -Douglas Notbohm Northwest regional
commander of the Wisconsin State Patrol
Members of the Chippewa Falls High School marching band were returning from a state band competition in Whitewater when the crash occurred.
Atherton was a student teacher at Chippewa Falls High School and a music education major at Eau Claire.
The truck left the travel portion of the westbound lane, overturned and jackknifed across both westbound lanes, blocking the highway, said Capt. Douglas Notbohm, northwest regional commander of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
The Chippewa Trails motor coach, the first of four different chartered motor coaches returning from the competition, crashed into the overturned semi, Notbohm said.
School officials announced the names of the five fatalities after the memorial service and after the state patrol released the information. They include Atherton, 24; the high school's band director, Doug Greenhalgh, 48; his wife, Therese Greenhalgh, 51, both of Chippewa Falls; and their granddaughter, Morgan Greenhalgh, 11. The bus driver, Paul Rasmus, 78, of Chippewa Falls, also died.
Six of the 29 injured passengers remain in the hospital, school officials said to those gathered for the memorial service. These individuals received multiple serious injuries and will undergo further surgeries in the coming days, officials said.
Respond teams from the Osseo police and fire departments, the Eau Claire fire department, Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties and the Wisconsin State Patrol all were present at the scene, Notbohm said.
Officials wouldn't confirm the number of people onboard the bus, but estimate it was 53 or less based on configuration of coach, Notbohm said at a press conference Sunday afternoon.
"We are trying to determine who was on the buses - not who was supposed to be there - but who was actually there," he said.
There are no indications that drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash, and weather conditions are not believed to be a factor, he said. The driver of the truck was not taken into custody, but authorities remain in contact with him.
Notbohm would not speculate as to any underlying causes of the crash.
"We haven't ruled out anything," he said. "We are in gathering mode right now. Everything's being looked at. Nothing's being assumed."
Injured passengers were taken to various hospitals in western Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as to St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, Notbohm said.
UW-Eau Claire junior Andrew Sazama, senior Amy Bowen and senior Ryan M. Wilson, all music majors from Chippewa Falls were injured while riding the bus. In addition, sophomore Ruth Weiland, a biology major from Chippewa Falls was also sustained injuries from the crash.
Three of the state's top motor carrier crash experts, as well as experts from the Minnesota State Patrol, have reviewed log in sheets, driver duty statuses and equipment issues for both vehicles and conducted aerial surveys with crash reconstructionists, Notbohm said.
Members of the National Transportation Safety Board will meet with officials Monday to review the state patrol's investigation, he said.
In a statement to a state trooper who arrived on the scene, the driver indicated that he did not fall asleep, Notbohm said.
Whole Food Products of Munster, Ind., owned the semi, which was hauling cargo from Indiana to Minneapolis, Notbohm said. The driver of the truck is an Indiana resident.
Chippewa Falls High School resumed classes today, according to school officials. Trained counselors and clergy are available for students and faculty members.
