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1 student killed, 3 hurt in Texas school SUV crash

CANTON, Texas — An SUV driven by a teacher and full of high school students traveling to a Future Farmers of America event veered off a rural East Texas road Thursday and rolled several times, ejecting a 15-year-old girl who died at the scene and leaving three others injured.

It appeared the driver overcorrected when the vehicle’s right side tires slipped off the paved road, which caused the SUV to flip about 2:40 p.m. about 55 miles east of Dallas, police said.

Teacher Debra Holcombe, 53, of Quitman, jerked the steering wheel to the left to get back onto the two-lane road, then pulled to the right to keep from going into oncoming traffic, causing the vehicle to roll, police said.

Quitman High School student Skylar Carpenter was ejected from the back seat and died at the scene, police said, adding that it appeared she was not wearing a seat belt.

Three other Quitman students were taken to Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler. A 17-year-old girl and 18-year-old boy were in fair condition, and a 15-year-old girl was in serious condition, said a hospital spokesman.

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