PELLA – A multi vehicle crash in Pella yesterday involving a schoolbus resulted in two people injured, as well as a brief closure to Highway 163 west of Pella.

According to traffic records, at around 4:05pm yesterday, 66-year-old Betty Maples of Pleasantville was traveling westbound on Highway 163 in a Lincoln Navigator when she slowed her vehicle down in the left lane to make a left turn. 21-year-old Breyton Schwenker of Newton was traveling behind her in a Volkswagen Jetta and failed to slow down, rear-ending the Lincoln, causing Maples to over-turn and strike the side of a schoolbus that was being driven by 59-year-old Gregory Dickenson of Pella. The schoolbus was from the Pella Community School District and was transporting the Pella High School girls soccer team.

A rear passenger in the Lincoln, who was identified as 65-year-old Rickey Maples of Knoxville, was life flighted to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines for treatment of injuries sustained in the accident, while the front seat passenger in the same vehicle, identified as 24-year-old Dante Dobbins of Pleasantville, was transported by ambulance to Pella Regional Hospital. 

No members of the Pella girls soccer team, or the bus driver, suffered injuries from the accident. Pella’s girls soccer match against Newton was postponed.