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Doctor says seat belts would have prevented some injuries in school bus crash

Two students still hospitalized
Posted at 5:52 PM, Dec 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-13 17:56:58-05

LAKE PLACID, Fla. — While the two kids sent to Tampa General are still there in serious condition, all of the children taken to Florida Hospital Lake Placid are home after being treated.

Considering what the injured students went through Wednesday morning, Doctor Cary Pigman says they deserve straight A’s.

“They were all rock stars. They were all troopers.”

Twenty went into the hospital with bumps and bruises and other injuries, but all were sent home within a few hours.

“About the only complaint we heard was one child who said he really didn’t want to ride in a bus anymore.”

Dr. Pigman says the kids he treated will be sore in the days to come. But he just wishes more were wearing seatbelts.

“I think it would have prevented some of the head injuries, the contusions to the head. It might have prevented some of the extremity bruises as a child was thrown forward and impacted on the seat in front of them.”

RELATED: At least 22 taken to hospital in school bus crash involving tractor-trailer in Highlands County

The doctor says even though the kids went home, parents need to look out for symptoms in the next few days, making sure pain or headaches don’t get worse. 

But everyone at this hospital agrees, after looking at the crash scene, this all could have been so much worse.