School bus driver found guilty after deadly crash

A school bus driver in Chattanooga got into an accident with 37 kids on his bus. Tragically, six of those children were killed in the crash. They were all in elementary school.

The driver recently went to court, where he was found guilty of every single count that had been leveled against him. It only took the jury around six hours to come to that conclusion.

The man was facing a total of 34 charges. Six of those counts were for vehicular homicide. Another was for driving a school bus while using an electronic device.

The bus had a video camera inside, and the tape showed the children walking up the steps and onto the vehicle while the driver apparently had his cellphone out.

He was also accused of speeding. This combination of excess speed and distraction caused the bus to careen out of control. The bus began swerving around before slamming into both a tree and a telephone pole.

Though he was found guilty, the man argued that the allegations against him were not accurate. For one thing, even though the investigation claimed he was breaking the speed limit by around 20 miles per hour, he said he was driving within the speed limit. He also claimed that, even though the video showed he had his cellphone when the kids were getting on the bus, he never took it out while the bus was in motion.

His defense was that another vehicle was in his lane and he had to swerve to avoid it. Police said that evidence from the scene did not support that story.

When loved ones are killed in car accidents, especially when they’re just young children, it’s important for family members to know all of their legal rights.

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Former Chattanooga school bus driver guilty in crash that killed 6,” Ellen Eldridge, March 01, 2018