Thirty-seven students were aboard the overturned bus as emergency crews treated the injured and worked to reunite families Monday morning.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Families, first responders and school officials faced a deadly start to the school week Monday after a bus carrying Winter Haven High School students overturned in a multivehicle crash that killed a 10th-grade girl and another person and injured several others.
The bus was carrying 39 people — 37 high school students, the driver and the driver’s 9-year-old daughter — when the crash occurred shortly after 6 a.m. on Lucerne Park Road. The students were traveling to Winter Haven High School when authorities say an oncoming car crossed the center line and struck the bus near its rear wheels.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the initial impact damaged the bus and caused it to cross into the opposite lane, where it collided head-on with a Jeep. The Jeep caught fire and the school bus overturned, coming to rest on its roof beside the roadway. The student aboard the bus and a person in the Jeep died.
Several people were taken to hospitals after the crash. Judd said roughly five to seven people were transported with potentially traumatic injuries, and one person remained in critical condition during the morning. Officials were still working to establish a final count and the conditions of everyone who had been hurt.
For first responders, the early hours focused not only on medical care but also on accounting for dozens of students. Judd said crews worked to identify the people involved, transport those needing treatment and reunite students with parents as families sought information about their children.
Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid said students practice emergency drills designed to prepare them to leave a bus after an accident. Speaking near the overturned vehicle, Heid said the outcome could have been even worse given the condition and position of the bus.
School Board Chairman Justin Sharpless also addressed the loss, calling for support for the student’s family, the school and employees affected by the crash. The student’s name had not been publicly released in the initial reports.
The collision disrupted the surrounding area for hours. Lucerne Park Road was closed while authorities investigated the scene, and officials warned drivers to stay away from the affected stretch. Winter Haven High School remained open, according to reports from the morning briefing, while families of students aboard the bus were notified.
Investigators said the bus had been traveling east when a westbound Chevrolet Malibu crossed the center line for an unknown reason. Authorities said the Malibu driver was cooperating with the investigation. No arrest or criminal charge had been announced as of Monday morning.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Homicide Unit continued investigating the crash, including why the Malibu crossed into the bus’s lane. School and law enforcement officials also continued working to determine the conditions of those hospitalized and support families affected by the deaths and injuries.
Author note: Last updated October 5, 2026.