Havelock, NC (WITN) - A bus driver who troopers said swerved to avoid a dog in the road has now been cited by the Highway Patrol.

Latera Newby was charged with failure to maintain lane control. Newby was driving a bus last Friday that ran off the road and flipped over in a ditch.

Twenty three students from Roger Bell Elementary School in Havelock went to local hospitals to be checked out.

No word yet whether any disciplinary action was taken against Newby by the school system.

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Original Story

Twenty three students from Roger Bell Elementary School in Havelock were taken to area hospitals Friday morning after their bus flipped over.

Dispatchers tell WITN the bus, headed to Roger Bell Elementary School in Havelock, hit a ditch on Fisher Town Rd. at 7:29 a.m. Friday. The bus turned on its side.

The Highway Patrol says the bus driver swerved to avoid a dog in the road and ended up in the ditch.

Casezell Martin was preparing to put his two young grandchildren on the bus when he heard the crash. "We were standing at the door me and my two grand kids when i heard skids on the highway and then a tumble."

Martin says he walked down the road to see his grand kid's school bus flipped on its side. "I was like oh my God, I thought maybe some of them just hurt bad, but thanks to God they did not," he said.

Troopers tell WITN that none of the students were seriously injured. Eleven students were sent to Craven Regional Hospital and twelve to Carteret General Hospital. .

An East Care helicopter dispatched to the scene was called off, the Havelock Police dispatcher said, because it was not needed.

School officials say all parents whose students were on the bus have been contacted.

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