Bus Driver Said "Not Gonna Stop for No Train" With 29 Students on Board

Yvonne Hampton, a 67-year-old school bus driver, drove directly into the path of an oncoming train after hearing 29 students scream warnings from behind her.

The train clipped the back of the bus, and Hampton now faces 29 counts of child neglect.

The incident happened at a railroad crossing on East Central Avenue in Bushnell, Florida, where Hampton had worked as a driver since 2015 with excellent evaluations.

Sheriff's investigators say Hampton "made the decision to cross the railroad tracks after she saw the railroad warning system activate."

The Crossing

Video footage showed the railroad crossing warning system activated, audible bells went off, and the crossing arm started to lower—then the bus proceeded across the track.

Twelve-year-old Cheyenne Gant was on the bus: "She like stopped on the tracks, specifically, and then didn't move whenever we were all yelling, 'train!' And it was very scary in the moment."

Student Isabelle Sinibaldi closed her eyes as hard as she could before impact: "I was crying because I was scared. I was glad that I wasn't dead. But I was also crying because I couldn't move."

Audio from the incident captured Hampton saying "not gonna stop for no train" as she approached the crossing.

Twenty-Eight Seconds

The train struck the bus 28 seconds after the warning system activated.

Students posted videos of themselves crying and screaming as the train passed, with one TikTok video gaining over 500,000 views using #TrainHitMyBus.

The superintendent called the train conductor a hero for doing everything he was supposed to do to prevent the crash.

Court Outcome

Hampton was granted $30,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with the affected children or their families.

She was fired from the district where she had worked for nearly nine years.

The county changed bus routes so district transportation will no longer cross railroad tracks at that location, using only crossings controlled by red lights.

Twenty-nine children survived because a train conductor reacted faster than the adult trusted to protect them.