Drugs, alcohol not involved in fatal bus crash

Authorities have not identified the first five children who died, but family members, friends and local media reports did.

A state lawmaker from Coventry, Rhode Island is renewing his call to put seat belts on school buses, after a school bus crash in Tennessee killed five children.

According to a police affidavit, Johnthony Walker, 24, was driving the bus full of students home from Chattanooga’s Woodmore Elementary School on Monday.

The first lawsuit was filed today in connection with the Woodmore Elementary School fatal bus crash Monday.

– It was a scene described as horrific, but it could have been worse if not for a team of almost thousands who came together Monday to lend aid to the several dozen children injured in a school bus accident in Chattanooga.

None of the children’s identities, who were students at the Woodmore Elementary School, have been officially released, but loved ones have identified four girls and one boy. They point to research that indicates the money for seatbelts would be better spent on a public education campaign encouraging more parents to send their children to school via bus.

Also, some bus drivers reportedly claim that seat belts could complicate rescues in crashes if students became trapped inside during a fire.

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said during a press conference on Wednesday that Tally Road, where the crash was, was not on the designated route for that school bus.

The NTSB will also bring in a specialist to analyze video and audio recordings from the bus’s interior cameras that were damaged in Monday’s wreck. No one was hurt when he sideswiped another vehicle after allegedly failing to yield as the bus went around a blind curve, the station reported. Twelve children remain hospitalized with six still listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Walker was an employee of a contractor for Hamilton County Schools, but in Athens and Limestone County, the school districts employee the drivers. “She lost her daughter”, he said.

Associated Press reported that Walker had been in an accident in September, but no injuries were reported as there were no children in the front row and the damage to the vehicle was negligible.

“It was the least we could do”, Tennessee coach Butch Jones said on the SEC teleconference.

Hart said that the investigation had just begun and that it wasn’t known why Walker – who received his commercial driver’s license only seven months ago – had left his normal route.

In an emotional video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Durham School Services CEO David A. Duke said he was “not able to elaborate” on the crash, but he promised his company would offer “any support that we can” to victims.

The bus company in 2007 was given a “conditional safety rating” from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Cook described her son as a responsible father of a 3-year-old who held down two jobs and had never been in trouble.

“A jury will have to decide is this recklessness or negligence”, said Shelby County Assistant District Attorney Michael McCusker. It took a little over two hours to get all 37 passengers of the bus. She also said that the accident was God’s will.

What we don’t know: The identity of one of the victims. The bus driver, Johnthony Walker, 2.

Robert Smith said he was in disbelief after his mother texted him about what had happened.

The company has had 346 crashes over two years, including three resulting in deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show. During that period, 53 incidents involved unsafe driving violations.