PLYMOUTH — A Plymouth-Canton Community Schools bus driver died Thursday morning after suffering an apparent medical emergency outside the district’s bus garage.
Plymouth Police Chief Al Cox said officers were called to the bus facility off Mill Street just as students were arriving for the day at nearby East Middle School.
Cox said the woman, who has not been identified, pulled into the parking lot, got out of her vehicle and walked to her trunk before collapsing.
“Police and emergency medical folks responded. They attempted CPR and such and to no avail and the person was declared deceased,” he said.
Cox said the death did not appear suspicious.
“It appears to us that it was probably some kind of a medical condition,” he said. “But certainly the medical examiner will make the final determination on that. There’s no signs of foul play. There’s no public safety concern whatsoever.”
While the outcome was tragic, he said, the situation could have been far worse.
“There’s no good time for this,” Cox said. “But being a bus driver, we’re glad that something didn’t happen during transportation.”
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools contracts with Durham School Services for transportation services. Durham did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Frank Ruggirello, executive director of communications and marketing for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, said that while bus drivers are not technically P-CCS employees, they are still “part of the family.”
“And we grieve with the family,” he said. “We’re feeling very bad about this. We are a large organization, and unfortunately we deal with things like this each year, but it’s never easy.”
Ruggirello said East Middle School sent a letter to families Thursday morning explaining the presence of emergency responders as students arriving for morning drop-off were diverted to other entrances.
No further information was immediately available.
Contact reporter Laura Colvin: lcolvin@hometownlife.com
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Plymouth-Canton bus driver dies after medical emergency outside bus garage
Reporting by Laura Colvin, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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