Stone County Deputy Rescues School Bus Driver Following Crash:

By Kathee Baird

Warren Hagar

Galena, Mo.- There were no students on board a Galena school bus when it crashed at Highway 176 and Railey Creek Road yesterday (08-19-14) morning.

Troopers say Joyce Martin, 49, of Galena, ran off the right side of the road – over corrected then ran off the opposite side of the road before traveling down an embankment and into a tree.  

Stone County Deputy Warren Hagar was on his way to work and the first person on the scene of the crash.  “I saw a school bus down a ravine and called it in.  I was told a female was trapped.” Hagar says he crawled in through the back of the bus because the front door was jammed.  “I told her I was a deputy sheriff and was there to help.”   

“She told me she wanted out and her leg was hurting.”  Hagar says Martin’s leg was pinned under the dash…. “I grabbed the steering wheel and pulled up as hard as I could. The next to thing I knew it broke loose and I fell backward.’  Hagar tossed the broken steering column in the back of the bus and continued in his attempts to free Martin when a good Samaritan jumped in to help.”

Hagar says he and the man broke the drivers seat to free the woman.  “When I picked her up off the seat she hugged me.”
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The bus was totaled in the accident, according to the crash report.

Martin was transported to Cox Hospital in Branson for treatment.