Alcester Union & Hudsonite Online

MADISON – A typical day on the job turned into a day of tragedy for an Alcester man last Wednesday, March 26, when the charter bus he was driving collided head-on with a car driven by a Dakota State University student five miles west of Madison on Highway 34.

The driver of the car, Lance Parliament, 24, of Sioux Falls, was killed, and over 50 passengers on the bus were injured when it tipped on its side as a result of the accident.

Jim Quick of Alcester was driving the Reading Bus Line charter bus with 55 mostly elderly passengers on their way to a day of fun at the Royal River Casino in Flandreau.

The trip originated in Mitchell and made stops in Howard and Madison to pick more passengers. As the bus headed east from Madison around 10:00 a.m., Parliament’s westbound car drifted into the opposite lane and struck the front left corner of the bus.

Quick fought to control the bus as it veered into the south ditch where it traveled several hundred feet before sliding sideways and tipping onto its side, sending passengers flying from their seats.

As rescue crews from Wentworth and Madison arrived at the scene they found dozens of injured passengers both inside and outside the bus. Additional assistance was called on from Lake County Search and Rescue, the Colman Fire Department and from Chester Fire and Rescue.

The Madison Hospital went into a Code Orange Level 2 alert, calling in all available personnel as they waited for a large number of injured to begin arriving. A school bus was dispatched to the scene to transport passengers with minor injuries into Madison.

Medical helicopters and fixed wing aircraft began arriving in Madison to transport several of the more seriously injured to Avera McKennan and Sanford Medical Center hospitals in Sioux Falls.

In all, 51 people were treated for injuries. Quick received minor injuries and was released later that afternoon from the Madison hospital.

When news of the accident began to filter out, many in the Alcester community began to worry, knowing the Quick drove for the Reading Bus Line. When staff at the Alcester-Hudson schools heard of the accident, there was a lot of concern about whether Quick, a former teacher, was driving the bus.

Eventually the news spread quickly that it was, indeed, Quick who was driving the bus, but that he was not seriously injured.

Quick is no stranger to driving a bus. Although he has been driving for the Reading Bus Line for a year, but had previously logged thousands of miles behind the wheel of a school bus during his 35-year teaching career with the Alcester-Hudson school district before his retirement last year. In addition to his teaching duties as Ag instructor and FFA advisor at the school, he often drove teams to athletic events, and FFA students to competitions and conventions.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol continues to investigate the accident. Toxicology reports taken on Parliament’s body indicate that there were no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the accident. The Highway Patrol also said that Parliament had his license suspended due to no insurance, and a revoked license due to a string of driving violations. It is believed he was driving from work in Sioux Falls to school in Madison when the accident occurred.

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