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School bus crash kills Myrtle Beach student
Nov 03, 2009 (The Sun News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
A local high school student was killed Monday morning when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a school bus near S.C. 31 and Robert Grissom Parkway in the Myrtle Beach section of Horry County.
Marc Chaplin, 18, was a senior at the Academy of Arts, Science and Technology. His base school was Myrtle Beach High School, said Teal Britton, spokeswoman for Horry County Schools.
The crash happened around 8:10 a.m. as the bus was turning on to the northbound S.C. 31 ramp.
Chaplin was on his way to the academy on International Drive. Traffic blocked the road near the scene for about five hours.
Horry County deputy coroner Tamara Willard said Chaplin was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash of multiple trauma.
Grief counselors were sent to both high schools for students and teachers to talk to if needed, Britton said.
Bucky Sellers, the pre-engineering teacher at the academy, said Chaplin was a smart, friendly student whom everyone loved to be around.
"He was a very wonderful young man, no doubt about it. You wonder why things happen to these people you think so much of. He was just a fine young man. He was very respectful of all other people. You never heard him say a bad or angry word about anyone, and he was just one of those people you just love to be around," Sellers said. "It sounds like I'm inflating this, but I'm not. He really was a great kid."
Chaplin was a member of the school's robotics team and went to the national championship in Atlanta last year, Sellers said. Sellers said he and the rest of the team spent a lot of time with Chaplin working on their robots after school.
"Just about everyone from his engineering class went home this morning. They were all pretty upset. We all are. He was just such a good kid. I wish I could have had a whole class of kids just like him," Sellers said.
"They're going to wear their yellow robotics shirts tomorrow and Wednesday as a tribute to Marc, and some of the kids were talking about putting together a memorial, too."
Sellers said Chaplin, who was born in South Africa, moved to Horry County about eight years ago. Sellers said Chaplin started an internship with a helicopter company at the General Aviation terminal in Myrtle Beach three weeks ago and wanted to go into aviation engineering.
No students were on the bus at the time of the crash.
The bus driver, whose name has not been released, has driven for the school district for four years and was treated at the scene, Britton said.
She said the driver was returning to North Myrtle Beach High School after dropping students off at the Academy of Arts, Science and Technology.
The S.C. Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. Cpl. Sonny Collins said the department's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team was called to the scene to investigate and work on re-creating what happened during the wreck.
Collins said no tickets were issued at the scene.
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