NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut Transit bus and a police cruiser responding to a call crashed in New Haven on Monday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals, officials said.
The cruiser had its siren and emergency lights on when it collided with the CT Transit bus just before 11 a.m. near the New Haven Green, police said.
The officer, 19-year veteran Victor Herrera, was taken to a hospital with injuries that were reported as not life-threatening.
Twenty-three people who were on the bus, including the driver, were taken to hospitals, police said. Children were among the passengers on the bus.
"Children were shaken up, but seemed OK," Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said in comments reported by The New Haven Register.
Herrera was responding to a call for assistance from another officer at the train station. The cruiser was traveling with another police car that made it through the intersection before the accident.
The cruiser came to rest against a concrete barrier. The bus jumped a curb and struck a lamp post before coming to a stop.
New Haven police spokesman David Hartman said it would likely take weeks or longer for the accident investigation to be completed.