{"id":218303,"date":"2026-04-04T03:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218303\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T03:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T03:48:11","slug":"family-of-child-injured-in-school-bus-crash-on-zoo-parkway-plans-to-pursue-legal-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218303\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of child injured in school bus crash on Zoo Parkway plans to pursue legal action"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A family whose child was aboard a school bus struck from behind by a semi-truck on Thursday<\/a> is pursuing legal action, the family\u2019s attorney said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: \u2018I was freaking out\u2019: Parents shocked after semi slams rear end of school bus carrying kindergartners<\/a> | \u2018Could have been much worse\u2019: Bystanders grateful no one critically hurt when semi smashes back of school bus<\/a><\/p>\n

A semi-truck slammed into the back of the bus while it was carrying about 30 students across train tracks on Zoo Parkway, Duval County Public Schools said. Four children were injured and taken to the hospital, and one of those families has retained Sam Hartiens, an associate attorney at Campione Law, to investigate the crash and potential claims.<\/p>\n

Back of school bus crumpled in crash with semi on Zoo Parkway (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that you would never expect to happen here in Jacksonville,\u201d Hartiens said. \u201cOnce we heard what was going on, this was something that we elected to pursue just because we do specialize in catastrophic cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hartiens posted a media release on his Facebook account announcing that a family has retained him.<\/p>\n

Hartiens said the child he\u2019s representing is out of the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201c…we are monitoring them for the condition,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re likely needing follow-up care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back of school bus crumpled in crash with semi on Zoo Parkway (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Now, the investigation process begins in trying to gather evidence pertaining to the truck driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main investigation is trying to figure out what caused this truck to go into the back of the bus,\u201d he said. \u201cWere they distracted? Was there something that didn\u2019t work that should have worked? There\u2019s a lot of questions and more than answers right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hartiens also described extensive damage from the crash and said the physical evidence will be important to resolving the case. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really significant, with a lot of force going through it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Florida law requires drivers of school buses and certain other passenger or cargo vehicles to stop no closer than 15 feet and no farther than 50 feet from the nearest rail and to look and listen for approaching trains before crossing. It was not immediately clear whether those rules were followed by the bus or the truck.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office and Duval County Public Schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment or the crash report. News4JAX knocked on nearby doors of neighbors who may know of the parents and students impacted by this.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s attorney said he will review all available evidence as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems very intense, not a small little fender bender or a love tap on the back,\u201d Hartiens said. \u201cIt\u2019s really significant with a lot of force going through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A family whose child was aboard a school bus struck from behind by a semi-truck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1039,116,118,117,7281],"class_list":{"0":"post-218303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-duval-county","9":"tag-jacksonville","10":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","11":"tag-jacksonville-news","12":"tag-school-bus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}