SEATTLE -- A police report said the driver of a charter bus carrying 22 students told police he was following directions from a global positioning device prior to a crash into a pedestrian overpass that was too low for the bus to pass through.

The crash Wednesday evening created a frenzied scene in Seattle's tranquil Arboretum and crushed the bus's roof, shattered windows and sent five people to the hospital.

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The bus was 11 feet 8 inches tall -- too high to fit under the old brick-and-concrete bridge that allows a clearance of 9 feet.

The bus was carrying students from Garfield High School’s softball team, their coach and a driver when it hit the bridge over Lake Washington Boulevard in the Washington Park Arboretum at about 6:20 p.m. The team was returning from a game in Kirkland.

Ambulances took five patients to Harborview Medical Center. Another charter bus took everyone else to Harborview shortly thereafter, hospital officials said. All of those treated were released late Wednesday night.

Student Sigrid Williams, 17, said she had been sitting in the middle of the bus when it crashed.

"I slammed my face into the chair in front of me because I was sitting sideways. No one was expecting it. It just happened. It was bad," she said.

Softball coach Sylvia Hahn received the most serious injuries in the crash. Hahn said she was sitting in the front passenger seat when the bus crashed causing her to hit the windshield and be thrown into the stairwell. When she discovered she couldn’t get out of the door, she climbed through a shattered window and called 911.

Hahn suffered head and leg injuries and is at home recovering.

School officials said 16 of the 21 team members did not attended classes Thursday.

An engineer with the Seattle Department of Transportation inspected the foot bridge Thursday morning and said that despite some superficial damage, the bridge is structurally sound.

A King County Waste Management worker also looked at the bridge because there's a 60-inch sewer line inside it. He also said everything looked fine, according to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Dubois.

The president of the company that owns the bus said the driver has a lot of experience and the company has a good safety record.

"I'm not sure what distracted him," said Steve Abegg of Journey Lines.

The driver told police he didn't see the flashing lights that are triggered by sensors when an oversized vehicle is approaching the low bridge. He received a $154 citation from police.

A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said the agency believes the signage for the bridge is "adequate."

The company said it is investigating the incident.