1 injured after school bus hits home in Portage Park crash: Chicago fire officials

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A school bus crashed into a home in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood Wednesday morning.

There was visible damage to that home in the 6000-block of West Waveland Avenue about 8:20 a.m.

Three people were on the bus, including a child in a wheelchair.

One person, the student's 43-year-old female caregiver, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Chicago fire officials said.

She was stable with neck pain.

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No one in the home was hurt.

The homeowners were in the back of the house when the crash happened.

"I heard this big loud crash. It seemed like the whole house was coming down," homeowner Myra Rivera said.

Rivera is shaken, but unharmed after the bus careened into the Northwest Side home she's shared with her husband for the last 23 years.

A neighbor's doorbell security camera recorded part of the incident.

"I couldn't believe it. How did a bus hit a house in the middle of the block?" Elliot Rivera said.

Neighbors said they saw the bus, driven by a 63-year-old, swerve, hit a car, take down a light pole and crash into the house.

"I heard a loud sound earlier, didn't really, kind of disregarded it, and then I woke up when I heard my sister yelling, like 'what just happened?' I walk outside, and there's a pole on the floor, and I see a whole school bus through our neighbor's house, so it was a pretty big wakeup call," neighbor John Dineen said.

David Feller's car was sideswiped.

"I'm not sure if he lost control or he was impaired. I don't have an answer to that yet," Feller said.

The bus crashed into the living room area of the Riveras' brick home, where Myra usually sits and has her morning coffee.

"The tire of the bus was inside my basement. There's a bedroom there, practically on the bed. It burst the water pipes," Myra Rivera said.

It's not clear what caused the driver to lose control of the bus.

"Astonishment for one, you just don't picture anything like that when you see the front of a bus into a house," neighbor Mary Broecker said.

The crash left the house uninhabitable.

The school bus company could not immediately be reached for comment.

No citations were issued Wednesday.