Posted on 11/22/2016 1:12:41 PM PST by Morgana
A school bus driver who authorities say was speeding along a narrow, winding road when he wrapped his vehicle around a tree was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide in the deaths of five children.
The wreck Monday afternoon plunged the city of Chattanooga into mourning, with parents stricken by the news and people lining up to donate blood.
"The most unnatural thing in the world is for a parent to mourn the loss of a child," Mayor Andy Berke said. "There are no words that can bring comfort to a mother or a father. So today, the city is praying for these families."
Police said Johnthony Walker, 24, was driving well over the posted 30 mph limit when he lost control of the bus. He was jailed on $107,500 bail for a court appearance Nov. 29 on charges that also included reckless driving and reckless endangerment.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That's putting it mildly.
arth ping
Sadly, I called it yesterday that he was speeding while they were still investigating the cause.
Why do they not have seat belts on school buses? Would that have saved any lives?
According to several news reports, some of the students said he asked them as he was speeding down the road, “Are you all ready to die?”. Then he swerved and hit the tree.
Premeditated first-degree murder.
“Why do they not have seat belts on school buses? Would that have saved any lives?”
I read once that they have assessed the risk:benefit of seat belts on school buses. The downside that mitigates the benefit is that the rescue of children in seat belts, especially when there is fire involved, is far more challenging and therefore in many instances seat belts might cost more lives.
Oh he had to be doing over 60 mph he wrapped that bus around a tree. I’m looking at pictures of it now on a flatbed. You know he must have been on something as well why else would he been driving like a maniac?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/chattanooga-school-bus-driver-traveled-speed-limit-police/story?id=43702930
Why do we have fools driving buses to start with?
Whoever hired him should be sued. If some program forced the hire, that should be brought to light.
I am an automotive restoration specialist, and have thought about the subject of seat belts in buses many times. The cost of retro-fitting and installing seat belts on buses would be enormous in the extreme.
Read this rumor on twitter that this schmuck bus driver said before he crashed the bus “Kids are you ready to die?” Just look at this guys mug shot he looks like he was high on something..why would any school hire him
I had heard that from another news site. The kids were scared and thought he was going too fast. Then he crashed. You know he must have been doing something.
I bet $10. it was meth.
Probably because its illegal to check their arrest histories.
That’s probably a bit extreme but I wonder if they were drug testing him/other drivers. That’s what we need to find out.
Because he probably works cheap and qualifies as a minority hire.
Next question.
Yeah, but they could make seatbelts a feature on school buses going forward and grandfather the old ones. They didn't have seat belts on school buses when I was a kid, either; but if they'd started making them standard on new buses then all buses today would have them now. Gotta start somewhere.
Buses get replaced so often it would be easy to get them all equipped with seatbelts. If they start ordering them with seatbelts Today.
They can find out if he’s on the sex offender registry. Other than that probably not.
To kill 5 children, the bail seems low, but he is black, so they grade on a curve.
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