A yellow school bus clipped a car near the intersection of Ludlow and Middleton avenues in Clifton Tuesday afternoon and then sped away without stopping, according to the driver whose vehicle was struck. Sydney Ashcraft, a nursing student, says the crash happened around 3:50 p.m. and left yellow paint marks and damage on the passenger side of her car.
Ashcraft told FOX19 that the bus crossed a double yellow line to pass a line of cars, then made a right turn back into traffic. She said she did not cross the double yellow line herself. As she followed the bus down Middleton Avenue, she said it accelerated even faster after the collision, and she ultimately lost track of it in a line of cars near a stop sign.
Search For Cameras Comes Up Empty So Far
Ashcraft said she checked with local businesses along Middleton Avenue in hopes that one of their security cameras had captured the bus or its license plate. She is now asking the public for help identifying the bus and its driver, and is urging any witnesses with video from the area to call District 4 police.
District 4 covers 11 Cincinnati neighborhoods, including Clifton, Avondale, Corryville, and Winton Hills, under Captain Danita Pettis, according to the City of Cincinnati. The department also maintains a voluntary camera-sharing program called Connect Cincinnati, which lets detectives request footage directly from registered businesses and residents in areas like Middleton Avenue during hit-and-run investigations, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of a Roselawn hit-and-run case.
Which Bus Company Was Driving?
Identifying the bus itself is complicated by how Cincinnati's pupil transportation system is structured. Cincinnati Public Schools contracts its yellow bus routes out to several private companies, including First Student, Petermann, Universal Transportation Systems, EverDriven, and Kemper Shuttles, per the district's own transportation department. FOX19 said it reached out to several of the area's transportation companies but had not received a response identifying the bus at the time of its report.
That patchwork of contractors is why yellow buses from multiple providers crisscross residential streets like those in Clifton during school hours. Under Ohio's 1965 Fair Bus Bill, public school districts are required by state law to provide transportation, or funding for it, to eligible K-8 students who live in the district even if they attend charter or private schools, according to WVXU. Combined, the district and its contracted bus services carry roughly 35,000 students a day and log more than 5 million miles a year on Cincinnati streets.
Ashcraft Wants Accountability From Bus Companies
Ashcraft said the incident raised concerns for her about the safety of children riding the bus, and she urged bus companies to make sure their drivers meet basic community expectations and qualifications. She also urged other drivers on the road to stay aware of their surroundings.
The case adds to what is already a persistent problem on Cincinnati streets. In 2025, city police recorded 4,082 hit-and-run incidents out of 14,086 total reported vehicle crashes, meaning nearly 29 percent of all collisions in the city involved a driver who fled, a figure Hoodline detailed in its report on a recent homicide-linked car chase. Anyone with information about the Clifton crash, including video from Middleton Avenue, is asked to contact District 4 police.
