Clayton News Daily

By Ed Brock

The Riverdale High School basketball player injured in a bus accident Monday is recovering at home, school officials said.

Demarius Patrick, 18, suffered a dislocated shoulder in the accident on I-285 in which the bus carrying the team to a game in Gwinnett County hit a tractor-trailer as the bus was entering the highway. Patrick was released from the hospital Monday night, Riverdale High School secretary Diane Long said.

Team coach David Boyd and other school officials decided to reschedule the game, part of the Thanksgiving Holiday Classic Tournament at Parkview High School, after Monday's accident. Riverdale defeated Parkview 98-83 Tuesday afternoon.

None of the other players were taken to the hospital after the accident.

"They're a little shaken up but they're OK," Long said.

The driver of the bus, 50-year-old Adolphus Okonwo of Atlanta, was cited with improper lane change in connection with the accident.

In a separate incident, a bus driver experienced chest pains while transporting students from Jonesboro Middle School Tuesday afternoon.

Leonora Carter radioed in about her pains to the Clayton County school system's transportation department and pulled over immediately, Director of Transportation Michael Jennings, said. The children were then loaded onto another bus.