HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (HDH) – Dramatic cellphone video captures a minivan driver swerving in traffic moments before, authorities said, he slammed into a school bus near Pembroke Pines, Friday afternoon, triggering a chain-reaction crash.
When Andre Addison spotted a silver minivan speeding westbound along Pembroke Road, he took out his cellphone and began recording the erratic maneuvers. “Look at this guy right here. This guy is crazy,” Addison is heard saying in the video. “He’s trying to hit somebody … from his car.”
Addison believes the motorist may have been undergoing some kind of road rage moment involving the driver of a white SUV. “He actually was belligerent and was just shouting and knocking on the other guy’s door like he wanted to jump out and attack him.” he said.
The witness said he thinks the minivan driver was trying to bait the other motorist. “Just cruising and shouting and swerving, almost like he wanted to hit the other guy,” he said.
Shortly after, Addison was able to talk to the driver of the SUV. “Two minutes later, I pull up beside the guy, like, ‘Do you know this guy? What happened?’” he said. “He was like, ‘He’s crazy.’”
By that point, the minivan had already sped off.
Just a few miles west from where Addison had shot the video, along the 6800 block of Pembroke Road, the minivan slammed into the rear of the school bus, triggering other collisions, officials said.
Officials said there were four South Broward High School students inside the school bus. “The bus started shaking,” said one of the students.
Officials said the driver of the minivan was pinned beneath the dashboard and had to be pulled from the wreckage by firefighters.
One child on board the bus was checked by paramedics at the scene but was not transported.
Meanwhile, Addison pulled up to the scene of the crash and continued to record on his cellphone. “This is the guy that was swerving like crazy, and look what happened,” Addison is heard saying in the video as paramedics tended to the driver of the minivan.
He was taken to an area hospital as a trauma alert. An adult from one of the other cars involved was transported with minor injuries.
Skyforce HD showed traffic backed up on Pembroke Road all the way to U.S. 441. The roadway was later reopened to traffic.
The minivan was towed away from the scene at around 4:30 p.m.
Addison said he was right to record the minivan driver’s erratic behavior. “It could have been my family member,” he said. “I always do that just in case, ’cause that’s pretty serious.”
Authorities have not released any names of anyone involved in the collision, nor do they know how it even happened.
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