Two girls, deputy hurt in school bus crash

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Updated: February 29, 2012 8:04AM

FREMONT TOWNSHIP — A Lake County sheriff’s deputy and two children are recovering from injuries after the deputy ran into a school bus full of elementary school students in Fremont Township near Round Lake while responding to a domestic call.

One of the young girls that was injured saw sheriff’s Deputy Jakub Klatka get out of his squad car slightly dizzy and bleeding from the head following the Thursday crash.

“She was more concerned about him, and she and her parents asked about him at the hospital. She kept saying ‘the policeman is bleeding,’” Lt. Christopher Thompson said. The two children and Klatka were all treated and released from Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville, later that day.

The accident occurred around 4 p.m. as the 26-year-old deputy was on his way to a domestic call with his lights and siren activated westbound on Route 60. He traveled into the eastbound lanes to go around traffic as he approached Blackhawk Trail when the full-sized bus from Fremont School District 79 carrying 44 children and two adults was westbound turned in front of him. Klatka could not stop.

A 12-year-old girl sustained a cut above her eye and received three stitches at the hospital. Another 11-year-old girl suffered a bump on her head and she also was treated and released from the hospital.

Klatka had a cut to the back of his head that required three stitches and a cut to the front of his head that required five stitches. Klatka, a four-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, also broke his left hand.

School district authorities sent another bus to the scene to pick up the remainder of the children who were then transported home. The driver of the bus, 41 year-old Erica Hintze of Round Lake, was uninjured in the crash.

A Sheriff’s Office accident investigator is currently working on the case to determine if any citations will be issued.