Friday, April 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Nine children, ranging in age from 6 to 10, were taken to University Medical Center early today with minor injuries after their school bus was rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver.
Metro Police were optimistic the errant motorist would be caught since, in his haste to get away, he left behind one of his headlights, complete with a large chunk of red plastic from the car's body.
The accident occurred about 8 a.m. at the northwest corner of J Street and Owens Avenue.
"All we have to do is find the suspect vehicle (a small, red, one-eyed Ford, possibly a Fiesta) and match up the headlight like a jigsaw puzzle," said traffic Officer Mark Sharp.
"We will be going for felony hit-and-run on this one."
The bus, carrying 15 children to Rowe Elementary School at 4338 S. Bruce St., had stopped at the traffic light at J and Owens when an automobile struck it from behind.
The car then dislodged itself from the bus, reversed gears and sped off north on J, Sharp said.
No license plate number was released by police.
A backup bus was dispatched to the scene to take the uninjured children to Rowe, school district officials said.
Sharp described the injuries suffered by the others as "complaintive," with no visible broken bones or lacerations.
The evidence, strewn in jagged pieces several feet under the bus, included not only the intact headlight -- police did not immediately know whether it was the right or left one -- but bits of amber light-cover and other plastic.
The bigger pieces were put into a single large brown paper evidence bag, in hopes that patrol units soon would find the driver motoring somewhere on the streets of Las Vegas.
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