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Sports See other Sports Articles Title: Sheriff killed in charity race may have been hit by other buses NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The Lake County sheriff killed in an accident in a charity bus race somehow exited the vehicle and was hit by other buses, said one of the drivers, Daytona Beach's police chief. Chief Mike Chitwood said he saw what looked like a pile of clothes on the track as he rounded a curve Saturday at New Smyrna Speedway. Beside the pile, the school bus driven by Sheriff Chris Daniels had spun onto the infield during the charity racetrack event. "And then a light came on in my head," Chitwood said. "That pile was Chris' body." He said he hurried to the scene and instantly knew a bus had run him over. The Florida Highway Patrol is still investigating what killed Daniels, a newlywed, on his 47th birthday. Preliminary findings and a synopsis of the events of the crash could be available Tuesday, trooper Kim Miller said. FHP does not normally investigate crashes at private speedways and does not have a procedure for such a report, Miller said. They are investigating the incident at the request of Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson. Daniels and six other current and former police and sheriff's agency heads were racing old school buses in the annual Battle of the Badges, a charity race benefiting Florida Sheriff's Youth Ranches. Witnesses said Daniels' bus spun out of control after colliding with another bus on the 12th lap of 15-lap race. Eric Robbins, of Palm Coast, was watching with his video camera turned toward Daniels' light blue bus as "a brown bus started pushing him from behind and forced him to spin," he said. The roughly 10-year-old school buses were fitted with governors that prevent them from going faster than 45 mph to 50 mph, and the initial impact didn't look deadly or even serious to many of the 10,000 people in the stands. Daniels' bus "went up against a wall and people started applauding before they realized what happened," Robbins said Sunday. "We didn't know what happened until I saw the news this morning. Race participants said some of the buses were old and rundown with faulty brakes and bad seat belts. "I crashed into a wall because I had no brakes," Chitwood told The Daytona Beach News-Journal for Tuesday's edition. "I was in a rickety bus. It was a clunker." The chief also said his seat belt was dry, rotted and barely held together. Don Nerone, who oversaw Saturday's bus race for New Smyrna Speedway, said each vehicle was safety inspected and in good operating condition before the race. "The brakes on all the buses worked," he said. "I test drove every bus personally." Gary Davidson, spokesman for the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said that would be the last school-bus race after the tragedy. Daniels' death "was an incredible tragedy, and under the circumstances, the event is not going to continue at the risk of someone else being killed or injured," he said. © 2006 The Associated Press.
Poster Comment: Un-freaking-believable.
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#1. To: Dakmar (#0)
Were these Halliburton buses?
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