Charges have been filed in an incident that caused a N.C. State Highway Patrol trooper to crash into a North Boulevard home on March 1.

Shonda Michelle Chavious, 37, of Rose Hill, was charged with failure to yield after the school bus she was driving, carrying 15-plus students from Butler Avenue School, pulled out in front of Trooper D.K. Pearson. Pearson was traveling east on North Boulevard in pursuit of a vehicle whose driver was in violation of motor vehicle laws at the time of the incident.

According to reports from the Highway Patrol, Chavious was traveling across North Boulevard from Jasper Street at an estimated speed of 10 to 25 mph and began to cross the intersection around 3:30 p.m. Pearson, whose estimated speed of travel was 75 mph without his lights activated, swerved his vehicle to miss the bus, hit a curb and then drove into the right front porch of the home, located at 401 North Blvd.

Pearson suffered minor injuries to his ankle and his knee as a result of the collision. None of the children, nor Chavious, were injured.

The trooper’s cruiser was totaled, with an estimated damage total of $23,500, and the home that was hit was knocked off of its foundation. An estimate of the home wasn’t available at press time.

“Trooper Pearson witnessed a violator traveling east on North Boulevard,” said Sgt. M. McLamb Wednesday, “and he was attempting to catch up to the violator and overtake the vehicle. The bus pulled out (in front of him) at Jasper and he turned to avoid it.”

McLamb stated that Pearson was waiting at the stop sign at Industrial Drive for another vehicle to turn left onto North Boulevard. By the time the vehicle in front of him pulled out, Pearson had to “catch up” with the violator in order to “overtake the vehicle,” which is the reason, he noted, for his high rate of speed. However, McLamb said Pearson did not have a chance to activate his lights.

“He was doing his job,” said McLamb. “It was just over three-tenths of a mile from where he was, so he saw the violator and was in the process of overtaking the vehicle ... We looked at everything and decided to get the Accident Reconstruction Unit (out of Raleigh) to come in and look at it as well, because they were not directly involved and they helped us come up with this conclusion.”

In addition to the N.C. Highway Patrol, Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, Clinton Police Department, Clinton Fire Department, and Sampson County EMS were on scene at the time of the incident.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or send e-mail to sisports@myclintonnc.com.