FRANKIN COUNTY, Mo — Every driver knows this rule of the road: you must stop while a school bus is loading and unloading. But Thursday morning, officials in Franklin County said a man ignored that rule and nearly hit three children in the process.
It was a close call for kids on their way to school. The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirms multiple children were about to cross the street to get on a Northwest R-I School District school bus when a man in a white van blew by, ignoring signals to stop.
Troopers said thankfully, some adults saw the man was not going to stop and grabbed the children before they could walk into the street. Troopers said an off-duty Maryland Heights police officer was behind the van and saw it all happen.
Cpl. Dallas Thompson said the situation could have been much worse had people around the scene not reacted so quickly.
“It sounds like there was a parent or grandparent that was able to see the van coming and that was able to stop the children before they crossed the road,” Thompson said.
Thompson said it all happened around 8 a.m. The off-duty officer called it in. Troopers said shortly after that, they were able to track down the man accused of driving the white van, 42-year-old Corey B. Lacey of House Springs.
Troopers said when they tried to pull Lacey over, he led them on a chase, weaving in-and-out of traffic before running into another car near the intersection of Highway O and Robertsville Road. They said he crashed shortly after that on Robertsville Road, got out of his car and tried to run away from police. Officials said they arrested Lacey around 8:35.
Thompson affirms that neither the school bus incident nor the ensuing chase resulted in any injuries. He said he hopes this serves as a reminder to drivers that you must stop for school buses when they are picking up or dropping off students.
“You’ve got to be really paying attention, watching those stop arms, and making sure if you see those stop signs out, that you’re slowing down,” Thompson said. “The last thing we ever want is for one of our children to be struck by a vehicle, especially at a bus stop itself.”
Lacey faces several charges, including felony resisting arrest, felony leaving the scene of an accident, operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner involving an accident and failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. He also had warrants out for his arrest in Jefferson County and St. Charles for driving without insurance and having an expired license.
Thompson said this could all have been avoided had Lacey just stopped for the school bus.
“We have somewhere we have to be every morning and every afternoon. But when you see that school bus stopped, loading or unloading children, you just have to have some patience and wait so we can make sure they get off the bus safely,” he said.
At last check, Lacey was in the Franklin County Jail on a $30,000 cash-only bond.
