RILEY COUNTY, KS — A school bus was involved in a crash just after 3 p.m. Friday in Riley County, after the Kansas Highway Patrol said the bus failed to stop at a light on Fort Riley Boulevard near Manhattan Avenue.
The bus struck a pickup truck, setting off a chain reaction that involved a total of four vehicles. No injuries were reported, and investigators said there were no passengers aboard the bus.
Troopers identified the bus driver as Corbin D. Montenegro, 22, of Saint George. The pickup driver was David A. Darling, 47, of Manhattan.
How the crash unfolded on Fort Riley Boulevard
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the 2024 school bus was traveling westbound on Fort Riley Boulevard when it reached the intersection east of Manhattan Avenue. Troopers said the driver did not stop at the signal.
The bus then hit a 2016 Ford F-150. The force of that collision pushed the pickup into a 2025 Buick Envista ahead of it.
The Buick was then pushed into another vehicle in front of it. That vehicle left the scene before troopers arrived, so officials did not identify the driver in the initial information released about the crash.
Drivers were restrained and no one was hurt
The highway patrol said everyone in the Ford and Buick who was in a position to be restrained was properly buckled in. No injuries were reported from any of the vehicles involved.
The absence of passengers on the school bus reduced the number of people exposed to the crash, but the collision still shut down part of the route long enough to draw a law-enforcement response in the busy Manhattan area.
Officials did not report whether any of the vehicles were disabled, but the sequence of impacts showed how quickly a single failure to stop can spread to multiple drivers in traffic.
The vehicles and drivers identified by troopers
The Kansas Highway Patrol identified the bus as a 2024 model and said it was driven by Montenegro, who is from Saint George. The pickup involved was a 2016 Ford F-150 driven by Darling, a Manhattan resident.
The third vehicle named in the crash was a 2025 Buick Envista driven by Toby M. Cook, 24, of Saint George. Troopers said the Buick was struck after the pickup was pushed forward.
Because the final vehicle left the scene before investigators arrived, the crash description stops short of a full accounting of all four vehicles. Even so, the patrol’s account makes clear that the bus was the first vehicle in the chain.
Why stop-light crashes can create chain reactions
Crashes at signalized intersections often involve more than two vehicles because one impact can send a car or truck into traffic already stopped ahead. That is what the Kansas Highway Patrol described on Fort Riley Boulevard.
In this case, the initial collision did not remain isolated between the bus and the Ford pickup. Instead, the pickup was driven forward into the Buick, and the Buick was pushed into another vehicle farther ahead.
The patrol’s summary does not mention weather, road conditions or mechanical problems, and it does not indicate that any of those factors played a role. The account released so far centers on the bus driver’s failure to stop at the light.
What troopers have said so far
The Kansas Highway Patrol provided the initial crash details and identified the drivers involved. Its account says there were no injuries, no passengers on the bus and no indication that anyone in the Ford or Buick was unrestrained.
Officials have not said whether any citations were issued or whether the crash remains under further review. The driver of the final vehicle was gone before troopers arrived, leaving part of the sequence dependent on the vehicles that remained at the scene.
For now, the incident stands as a non-injury crash that briefly tied up a major Manhattan-area roadway and involved a school bus, two identified civilian vehicles and one unidentified vehicle that left before investigators got there.
