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CNN Live Today
Interview with Kristan, Beth Grubb
Aired June 25, 2002 - 10:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Accident investigators in Texas are trying to determine just why a bus full of youngsters heading to church camp in Louisiana suddenly smashed into concrete pillars on Interstate 20 in Texas. Four children, ages 12 to 16, were killed in the accident. The driver also died. Police say there were no skid marks at the scene, and therefore no indication of exactly what happened, or why that bus suddenly began swerving. They are looking now into the possibility that the driver may have fallen asleep.
Dallas affiliate WFAA interviewed the driver's wife, who said that he had recently undergone medical tests for headaches and pain in his arm.
Kristan Grubb was one of the youngsters on that bus, and she was hospitalized for treatment. She and her mother, Beth, are with us this morning. They are, as you see there, at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, and ladies, I have to tell you it is very good to see you this morning.
BETH GRUBB, MOTHER OF BUS ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: Thank you. We are very glad to be here.
HARRIS: Kristan, let -- I'll bet you are. Kristan, let's begin with you. How are you? Exactly what happened with you?
KRISTAN GRUBB, BUS ACCIDENT SURVIVOR: I just got a really bad bruise on my knee, and an abrasion on my back, and something has happened to my forehead, but I don't know because I blacked out.
HARRIS: You can't remember what happened there?
K. GRUBB: No.
HARRIS: Can you tell us -- can you tell us what happened right before the accident, because, as you know, no one can tell exactly what happened in this accident by looking at what happened from the outside. Can you tell us what was happening while you were there on the inside riding?
K. GRUBB: I was talking to my friends Gabby (ph) and Kim (ph), and I turned around to see -- like we were going off the road, and we were fixing to hit this pillar, and we just hit it, and I just blacked out. And when I woke up, I was laying on the ground. I had no idea how I got there, and my head was bleeding, and so I thought it was a dream, you know. It was a movie.
HARRIS: Boy, I'll bet you did think that. That is incredible. How long had you been on the road? Had you been on the road for a long time?
K. GRUBB: We had been on the road for about an hour, because the buses were supposed to be there at 6:00 at the church, and they were two hours late.
HARRIS: Where was the other bus at? You say "buses," I know there were two buses on this trip. Where was the other one when the accident happened?
K. GRUBB: The other one was ahead of us, and before the kids found out, they had stopped in Canton, and that is when the kids found out that the other bus had crashed.
HARRIS: All right. Mom, how did you find out about this? What were you doing when you heard the news?
B. GRUBB: They were -- I was at home, and received a call about 9:00 -- a little bit after 9:30. And they said that there had been an accident, but they thought that Kristan was going to be OK, that they were going to take her to a hospital, and that I could call the fire department to find out where. And so, we immediately then started for Terrell, to go to the scene of the accident.
HARRIS: I bet that was...
B. GRUBB: So it was -- yes, it was. You know, you kind of put in this -- you kind of get in gear as a mother, and then just start -- you know, what can I do, how can I help, how do I find out where she is? And it wasn't until we were at home, after she was released, and I went and picked up her bag from a friend of mine that -- and it smelled like diesel fuel -- that it really -- I don't know what it was about that particular moment, but it -- that hit me pretty hard.
HARRIS: Now, Kristan, let me ask you -- I want to be careful with this, because I know you're still going through a lot with all this, but I know that there were four teens on that bus with you who did not make it through that crash, and I want to read their names because I want people to remember them. Michelle Chaney, Michael Freeman, Lindsay Kimmons, and Amanda Maxwell. Unfortunately, they did not make it. Did you know any of them very well, were they friends of yours?
K. GRUBB: I knew -- me and Lindsay were in the same Sunday school. I was going to get to know her at camp more, because I really didn't know her. But then, when I was on the ground and I didn't see her, I had a feeling that she didn't make it, because she was in the very back of the bus.
HARRIS: In the back of the bus? Where were you?
K. GRUBB: Yes, she was in the back. I was in the middle -- I was in the middle on the right side. HARRIS: Yes, so you weren't sitting very close...
K. GRUBB: No, no, no.
HARRIS: OK. I know that must have been a tough scene.
K. GRUBB: Yes. It was. The screams are what got me the worst, because they were like horror screams. You know, you had to be there to realize that it was real.
HARRIS: Yes. Boy, you know something, that sounds like the kind of thing, for me, on the outside looking in, that sounds like the kind of thing I only see in movies.
K. GRUBB: Yes.
HARRIS: And I would think that would give me nightmares if that was me. Did you sleep OK last night?
K. GRUBB: No, I didn't, because my back was hurting really bad, and so I was laying on my back, and I couldn't lay, you know, on my stomach because of my knee. So, I really didn't sleep very well.
HARRIS: Boy. Beth, you know, as a mom who is active in the church and everything, you know, I have to wonder if you had thought at anytime or if you have had a chance to talk at anytime yet about how is it that something like this -- you know, if you do believe in a God -- how something like this can happen to teens who are involved in a church activity?
B. GRUBB: Well, we focus so much on that God can bring good to things that happen, and we were thankful that it wasn't more people than that. This has not shaken our faith at all. We just -- we continue to have the faith that God is going turn to good, out of this.
Sometimes, things are allowed to happen, and we're thankful that it wasn't more children than that, our prayers are with the ones who are still in critical condition, and we just -- we continue to appreciate so much to be part of a church that is so incredibly supportive.
HARRIS: Boy.
B. GRUBB: So we really are. It is hard -- it is going to be hard for the next few weeks or so, because for some of us, the reality for some of us has not quite set in yet.
HARRIS: Beth, you bring up one really good point, though. If anyone is looking for a silver lining, perhaps, it could be that as bad as it was, this really could have been a lot worse.
B. GRUBB: Oh, absolutely. And -- you know they hit -- he hit the guardrail first before hitting the concrete pillar, you know, that was a blessing in a strange way, and -- and to see the bus and stuff and to realize that we did not lose more is -- to me, is just incredible.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: Yes, and we're looking at pictures right now of that bus. Kristan, I want to give you a chance to give us a final thought this morning. You know, I'm sure when you walked out of the bus, and you did look at that scene, when you did get out of there, and you looked back at that -- you probably couldn't believe that you actually did walk away from that. How do you think this may change your life from here on?
K. GRUBB: It changed my life, you know, then, because I thought I was going to die because my head was bleeding, and people were just screaming. But, you know, it wasn't my time to go, because if it was my time to go, I wouldn't be here right now. It wasn't my time to go.
HARRIS: Well, we're certainly glad that it wasn't. We're glad that you're able to chat with us this morning, and glad that you don't look as bad as you could. You look pretty decent for someone who went through a horrible accident like that yesterday.
K. GRUBB: Thanks.
HARRIS: Good luck to you, OK?
K. GRUBB: Thank you.
B. GRUBB: Thank you.
HARRIS: Beth and Kristan Grubb, and all the best to you. And for those families who did not -- who were not as fortunate as the Grubbs there, our best and our hearts go out to them as well for suffering an incredibly terrible loss at a time that just can't possibly ever be expected or anticipated. All the best to you as well.
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