School bus seatbelts

On March 29, 2006, a charter school bus transported the West Brook High School girls soccer team toward a playoff game along Highway 90 in the rain. The bus wrecked and rolled over. Two players were killed and many others were injured.

The greater Beaumont community poured out their hearts and prayers to the families of the athletes who lost everything precious in their prime. The families worked with the school district to establish a method to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again. This year, the district has decided to begin purchasing busses specially equipped with three-point safety belts.


Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

West Brook High School students wait for news about a fatal wreck at the school in Beaumont on Wednesday, March 29, 2006. Two soccer team students died and others were injured in a bus wreck on their way to a playoff game in Humble.


West Brook High School head girls soccer coach Rachael Scoggin bites back tears at the end of a speech at Ford Park on Saturday, May 20, 2006. She addressed the audience at Ford Park during the official retirement of the jerseys of Alicia Bonura and Ashley Brown, who died in a wreck on their way to a playoff soccer game with Scoggin.


Mike Bonura carries his daughter's soccer jersey off the field at Ford Park on Saturday, May 20, 2006. Mike Bonura is the father of Alicia Bonura who died with a West Brook High School soccer teammate in a wreck on their way to a playoff soccer game. Ford Park officiated the retirement of the jerseys of Alicia Bonura and Ashley Brown, who died in the wreck, and unveiled a banner in their honor.


West Brook High School soccer players Devin Martindale (left) and Allison Forman (right) talk before the BISD school board meeting at the BISD Administration Building in Beaumont on Thursday, July 27, 2006. The girls soccer team was involved in a charter bus wreck that killed two players and seriously injured Forman and took Martindale's arm.


Steve Forman, father of WBHS senior Allison Forman, (left) and BISD director of transportation Clifton Guillory (right) request new bus safety measures during the BISD school board meeting at the BISD Administration Building in Beaumont on Thursday, July 27, 2006. Guillory put forward a proposal to begin equipping busses with three-point safety belts.

For additional information and images from Jennifer and Scott, please read:
"A parent's worst nightmare"
"Unimaginable grief descends on a day that should have been like any other"
"Evening vigil set for soccer players killed in wreck"
"Trooper says speed, rain probably factors in bus wreck"
"West Brook withdraws from soccer playoffs"
"Subdued by grief"
"A mother's last words to her child: Be careful"
"Passenger describes horror of crashing bus"
"'She wishes it was her instead of them'"
"BISD's new buses will have seatbelts"