Driver of crashed Mudcats bus cited for speed

The driver of a bus that crashed Tuesday morning with the Carolina Mudcats baseball team aboard was issued a citation for driving too fast for conditions, the State Highway Patrol said, and the team’s series with Myrtle Beach was postponed.

Janice Coffman, 52, of Vinton, Va., was driving the Abbot Trailways coach when it failed to make a curve on Clarendon Chadbourn Road, hit a ditch and pitched onto its side.

Several members of the Class A farm team of the Atlanta Braves were taken to a hospital for examination, but all were released, and the team said none had suffered anything more serious than bruises.

The team’s three-game series with the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Pelicans, was postponed, however, Carolina League President John Hopkins said late Wednesday morning.

The bus was taking the Mudcats from a 3-1 win over the Salem Red Sox on Monday night to Myrtle Beach when the crash happened in southeastern North Carolina, in Columbus County.

The bus had been detoured off its usual route by construction, the team and the highway patrol said.

“For reasons related to Tuesday morning's bus wreck, the series between the Carolina Mudcats and Myrtle Beach Pelicans will not be played as scheduled,” Hopkins said in a statement.

“The Mudcats team has returned to Zebulon, where players and field staff will continue to be medically evaluated. Decisions on rescheduling will be made at a later time,” Hopkins added.

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Driver of crashed Mudcats bus cited for speed."