Driver of Empty School Bus Involved in Crash With SUV Charged

The Georgia State Patrol has identified the drivers involved in the Tuesday .

Twenty-four-year-old Octavias Moon of Hull was driving a Chevy Tahoe headed westbound on Ga. Highway 316 when the 50-year-old driver of an empty Oconee County Schools bus, Tina Smith of Statham, crossed the eastbound lanes from McNutt Creek and struck the Tahoe in the driver's side, according to a public information officer with the Georgia State Patrol.

Moon was lifeflighted to Atlanta Medical Center and Smith was taken to a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries, authorities said. The Athens Banner-Herald reported Moon was still in intensive care on Thursday.

A section of the highway was closed until about 1 p.m. Tuesday in order for the helicopter to land and for the wreckage to be cleared.

Smith has been charged with failure to yield to the right of way, the Georgia State Patrol reported Thursday.

School officials told the Athens Banner-Herald that at the time of the accident, Smith was headed to pick up a special-education student for a pre-kindergarten program.