By Darrell Halen

The driver of a FedEx truck that collided with a school bus carrying 27 middle school students has been charged with failing to keep on the right side of the road.   

None of the Windham Middle School students was injured when the collision occurred on Cristy Road around 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2. But the crash sent both drivers to the hospital for injuries.

Police Capt. Patrick Yatesevich said the FedEx driver, Dominic Mancino, was charged with failure to keep right.

The charge is a violation and carries a fine of $75. Mancino is not required to appear in court but must answer a summons through the New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles within 30 days, according to Yatsevich. Mancino was issued the summons on Jan. 7 by officer Bryan Smith.

Mancino, of 15 Meadow Drive, Goffstown, suffered lower leg injuries. He was semi-concious when rescue workers arrived but became more alert as he was treated, said Fire Chief Thomas McPherson.

The bus driver, Thomas Murray, of 5 Rainstree, Londonderry, suffered lacerations and abrasions to his left hand and face. He was treated at Parkland Medical Center in Derry.

The severity of the damage from the accident was something one would expect to see on an accident occurring on a highway or major road, McPherson said.

“To see it on a secondary street was pretty amazing,” McPherson said. “Obviously, it could have been worse.”

McPherson credited the students  with staying calm on the bus after the accident. Another bus brought them back to school where they were released to family members.

Windham police were assisted in their investigation of the collision by the New Hampshire Highway Patrol.