8 Injured as Student’s Car Hits School Bus

A car carrying students headed for Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster collided with a school bus bound for the same campus early Tuesday, injuring the bus driver and seven students from both vehicles, authorities said.

The crash occurred about 6:35 a.m. in Lancaster when a boy driving the car let it drift about four feet across the road’s center line as he tried to help one of his three passengers with his seat belt, California Highway Patrol officers said.

The car’s driver, identified as Rand Bannister, 17, of Lake Los Angeles, was listed in fair condition Tuesday afternoon with a fractured hip and pelvis at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center. The eight people taken to the hospital included Bannister and his three passengers, all male seniors, as well as the driver of the school bus and three girls among her eight passengers. All except Bannister and one girl from the bus were treated for minor injuries and released. The one girl suffered a fractured hip.