Sheriff: 2 injured after car rear-ends Morrison school bus

MORRISON – A Wisconsin man suffered severe injuries, and a Morrison student was taken to the hospital with minor injuries after a car struck a school bus Monday, according to the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies were dispatched to 17218 Lincoln Road after Zane J. Gifford, 32, of Whitewater, Wisconsin, was traveling westbound on U.S. Route 30 when he rear-ended a Morrison Community School District bus operated by RC Smith Transportation, Sheriff John Booker said in a news release.

The bus was stopped in the westbound lane with red lights flashing while a child got on the bus, the release said.

Gifford sustained severe injuries and was airlifted by a MedForce helicopter to Javon Bea Hospital in Rockford. One student on the bus was transported by CGH Ambulance to Morrison Community Hospital with suspected minor injuries, Booker said.

The bus driver and five other students on the bus were not injured.

Whiteside County deputies were assisted at the scene by the Illinois State Police, Morrison Police Department, Morrison Community Hospital Ambulance, Morrison Fire Department, CGH Ambulance, MedForce Helicopter and Hunter’s Towing.