CARROLLTON, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Monday, survivors of the Carrollton bus crash will mark 30 years since their escape from the deadliest drunken driving accident in U.S. history.
It was just before midnight on May 14, 1988, when 24 children and three adults died on board a church bus headed home to Radcliff from Kings Island, after a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on I-71 in Carroll County, slammed into the front of the bus. Of the 67 people on board, 40 made it out alive. Joe Percefull was one of them.
"It just never leaves you. It's not something you get over at some point. It molds who you are. You carry on with life and when all those emotions come back, it takes you back to being 14 and you remember every single thing you went through and the people you lost," Percefull said.
His best friend had invited him to come along for the ride.
"I was behind the driver in the third row on the aisle," Percefull said.
They were halfway home after a day of fun at the Ohio theme park. Percefull never imagined it would end this way.
"I saw a real quick flash of light. We hit something and I was thrown forward to the seat in front of me," he said.
Percefull says there were a few seconds of calm before the chaos. The bus was old. The gas tank unprotected. It erupted in flames. Everyone on board began frantically pushing their way toward the back of the bus, down the cramped, narrow aisle to the single rear exit.
"You had to make a split second decision on what you were doing and to react or else you didn't get out," Percefull said.
He turned his back to the aisle and climbed left, over rows of seats instead. He believes it's the only reason he survived. The fire spread quickly, burned so hot, it had already scorched the insides of his vocal chords and lungs by the time he'd escaped the inferno.
"The top layer of my skin had turned black and rolled up on my arm where it had melted," Percefull said.
Hear more from Percefull below:
Still in shock, he had no idea just how bad this night would end. He spent days at University Hospital in Louisville before his mother finally broke the news.
"I can remember every day asking her, 'what about this person, what about this person...?'"
His best friend, Josh Conyers, and the two girls sitting next to them had died.
"I know the vast majority of their bodies were found in the aisle, so I assumed they all piled up on each other," Percefull said.
Years later, the memories are still painfully vivid.
"Even 30 years later, it's doesn't go away. The pain doesn't go away. It's still there," he said.
Percefull's spent the last 21 years as a teacher in the Oldham County School District.
"Usually my message is about the choices people make," he said.
Percefull's spoken to hundreds of students, reminding them of a choice one man made so many years ago that affected the lives of 67 people and their families. He travels to area schools sharing his story and spreading hope for the younger generations.
"I can look at kids today and feel pretty confident in telling them they won't have to go through what I went through in this regard," Percefull said.
He also shares his view of the man responsible for the Carrollton bus crash.
"Larry Mahoney to me is probably, in the big scheme of things, not a bad guy, not a bad person."
Mahoney spent nearly 11 years in prison before his release in 1999. He's hasn't spoken publicly about that night since his conviction.
The horrific events in Carroll County spurred a widespread law enforcement crackdown on drunken driving and sweeping changes to bus safety, but Percefull says there is still room for self-improvement and it needs to start early.
"Kids need to understand that if you don't make good choices, a simple decision you make some night to drink and get into a car, or what's really relevant is texting while driving, it could completely change your life," Percefull said.
►Contact reporter Brooke Hasch at bhasch@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Hasch) and Facebook.
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