Returning home from what had been an exhilarating trip to Washington, D.C., members of the Montezuma-Cortez High School Marching Band narrowly escaped injury when their bus collided with a vehicle driven by an alleged drunk driver, who died in the crash.

Just before 4 a.m. Saturday on U.S. Highway 666 two miles south of Shiprock, the Cortez-bound bus carrying 43 high-school students encountered a car driven by Johansen Begay, 21, of Newcomb, N.M.

According to Shiprock Police spokesperson Samson Cowboy, Begay’s southbound vehicle was weaving in and out of the northbound lane and smashed head-on into the school bus.

"The car went under the bus and it tore the roof off of the car," Cowboy explained. "Begay died on impact."

Cowboy stated that alcohol was a factor in the fatal crash. Begay was the sole occupant of the four-door Pontiac.

MCHS band director Randy Ritthaler, who was in a vehicle ahead of the bus, said miraculously none of the children or adults on board the bus were injured. He credited the bus driver, Rudy Kraus of Cortez, with maneuvering the bus so skillfully that he avoided further catastrophe.

"He (Begay) was swerving erratically all over the road," Ritthaler said. "After the impact, it was because of Rudy that the bus didn’t flip — he really held it together. Rudy was very upset and very traumatized by the whole thing, but it was because of him, I firmly believe, we didn’t lose any kids on that bus."

Paramedics who arrived on scene moments later checked out each student individually and no one on the bus required transport to the hospital.

"The kids were all left on the bus and evaluated and looked at before they were even allowed to get off the bus. Everybody was looked at at the scene and released at the scene," Ritthaler said.

Ritthaler said the MCHS entourage of one vehicle and two buses had just passed by another serious head-on accident before the collision with Begay.

"There was a wreck about 300 yards before this one and we all had to slow down, pull off to the side and pass it," Ritthaler said. "It itself was a horrendous wreck with four lives lost there. We had just started back down and that’s when our wreck happened. The emergency workers at the previous wreck heard it happen and so they all went screaming down there because there was nothing they could really do at the other wreck."

Although several students were able to get on the second bus and continue home shortly after the wreck, another bus was sent out to pick up the remaining children, who arrived home later that morning. Trauma counseling was made available for any students who needed it.

The group was returning from Washington, D.C., where they had performed in the National Independence Day Parade on July 4. While in Washington, the group visited numerous historical sites and appeared on national television.