Driver charged after church bus returning from Bulls game crashes in NW Indiana; 4 children, adult injured

GARY, Ind. (WLS) -- Several children and an adult were injured after a crash in northwest Indiana involving a church bus returning from a Bulls game Monday night, and the driver has been charged, Indiana State Police said.

The bus was returning from the United Center and had approximately 47 people on board, including children. Four children, ranging in age from 10-14, and a 49-year-old were transported to hospitals for leg injuries and head and neck pain.

Indiana State police said Wilton Carr, 82, of Indiana was driving the bus, which is owned by Jesus Saves Missionary Baptist Church in Gary. The bus was driving eastbound in the right lane on I-80-90 at the 9.6 mile marker just before the Cline Avenue exit when the bus went off the road and hit the median going into the middle embankment.

The underbelly of the bus hit a gravel and dirt embankment, which caused the front tires to go completely off the ground, police said. The impact caused some inside the bus to be tossed and thrown from their seats, police said.

Dianna Darden's 13-year-old son Arjaie Johnson was one of the student athletes on board.

"It was very upsetting," she said. "I mean, I still got emotional and cried about it because you think about the what if's what could have happened".

"I'm extremely disappointed and upset and I don't want to comment past that right now, but I'm definitely going to talk to the rest of the coaches and have some deeper discussion about this because it's extremely upsetting," said AAU basketball coach Will Miller. "We want to make sure people are responsible for what they are supposed to be responsible for."

Police said the driver failed a sobriety test, and was taken into custody in Lake County. Carr has been charged with felony counts of operating while intoxicated causing bodily harm, OWI with passengers under 18, and misdemeanor counts of OWI and OWI endangerment.