Troopers E.R. Maffett (left) and James Day discuss what caused a car-bus collision Friday morning that killed a woman and four children.Ron Cockerille/Staff

Five die in collision with school bus

Although glaring sun may have played role in crash, officials pointed to alcohol as main cause of tragedy

Web posted Dec. 06 at 10:24 PM

 Teachers shocked at deaths
  How it happened - graphic
  Where it happened - map

By Gregory Patterson and Chad Bray
South Carolina Bureau

WAGENER - With two children, two grandchildren and a can of beer in her car, Linda Tindal set off on her daily two-mile trip to C.M. Busbee Elementary School.

Coming the other way, a school bus driver, alone on the bus after her morning rounds, watched the car full of people weave into her lane of Seivern Road, return to its own and then veer back toward her.

Seconds later, the front half of the 1977 Pontiac Catalina was buried under the bus and everyone in the car was dead.

Ms. Tindal, 41, of 525 Tyler Acres Road in Wagener, along with daughters Nikki Tindal, 10, and Christine Tindal, 8, granddaughter Brittany Tindal, 4, and grandson Justin ``Bubba'' Tindal, 3, all died in the accident a mile north of Wagener just before 8 a.m. Friday.

Crosses painted by Aiken County Coroner Sue Townsend after an automobile ran head-on into an oncoming school bus show where a woman and four children died. Ron Cockerille/Staff

A half-full can of beer was found in the car, and preliminary toxicology reports showed Ms. Tindal's blood alcohol level was as much as three times the legal limit of 0.10 percent, state Highway Patrol spokesman Cpl. M.J. Gamble said.

And though all five family members were found in the crushed front seat of the car, troopers believe the two older children were thrown there from the back seat, which was relatively intact after the accident.

``No one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt,'' Cpl. Gamble said.

Although the glaring morning sun may have played a role in the crash, officials pointed to alcohol as the main cause of the tragedy.

``I think we may have been dealing with a mama who was drinking,'' Aiken County Coroner Sue Townsend said. ``It's especially disturbing, considering the time of day.''

Police said there was nothing that Cynthia C. Fulmer, the 39-year-old bus driver from Wagener, could have done to avoid the crash. Ms. Fulmer was unhurt. Skid marks 75 feet long showed the bus tried to stop.

``We don't expect any charges and don't expect there's anything the bus driver could have done to avoid it,'' Cpl. Gamble said.

Sampson W. Williams, a friend who was letting Ms. Tindal live in a trailer on his property, said she took the children to school each morning.

``She told me she was going to take the kids to school and she would be right back,'' Mr. Williams said as he smoked a cigarette down to the filter Friday afternoon, choking back tears.

Family members gathered at the scene of the accident Friday afternoon to grieve and try and understand what happened.

``It's heartbreaking,'' said Ms. Tindal's niece, Roxanne Hooker of Wagener. ``We've lost seven (family members) in one year.''

Ms. Tindal's husband, Luther, died in March, and her brother-in-law Lewis Tindal died in an automobile accident in California earlier this year.

Steve Hart of Aiken and a friend were driving on Seivern Road a few minutes behind Ms. Tindal and were the first to arrive at the accident scene Friday.

``The bus driver was still at the wheel, and my buddy went to help her,'' Mr. Hart said. He called 911 from a cellular phone.

Killed in the crash were, in back, the driver Linda Tindal; and, clockwise from left, Christine Tindal, Justin Tindal, Nikki Tindal and Brittany Tindal.Special

Mr. Hart said the front of the bus was sitting on top of the car's front seat and had crushed the roof.

``All we saw was a part of one child and the driver,'' Mr. Hart said.

Mr. Hart said that the sun was shining straight into their eyes as he drove and that he didn't see the accident until they were right on top of it.

``The sun was coming straight down the road,'' Mr. Hart said.

The bus had to be lifted off the car using large air bags. It took close to three hours for rescue workers to cut apart the car and remove the five bodies.

By the time the bodies were driven away from the scene, five white crosses had been painted on the pavement by the coroner's office, which in Aiken, is standard practice for traffic fatalities, designed to raise awareness.

Nikki was a fourth-grader and Christine a third-grader at Busbee Elementary. Brittany was on a waiting list for the school's kindergarten and might have entered in a week, school officials said.

How it happened

Cpl. Gamble said a complete reconstruction of the accident by a highway patrol accident team, as well as the final results of toxicology tests, might take up to a month.

``They'll take the taillight out (of Ms. Tindal's car) and take it apart to see if the brakes were mashed,'' Cpl. Gamble said.

Speed did not appear to be a factor in the accident, Cpl. Gamble said. The speed of the bus, a newer model, was restricted to 45 miles per hour.

Reached at her home by telephone, Ms. Fulmer said school officials told her not to talk about the incident, but added that she was doing ``fine.''

According to the state Department of Transportation, there was one other fatality on Seivern Road in the past five years, but none within a mile of Friday's accident.