School bus driver arrested over five deaths

Police said overnight five children were killed in the crash.

Police said the bus driver, identified as 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, is in custody and has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving.

“Our hearts go out.to the families, the neighborhood, the school, for all the people involved in this”, Fletcher said at a news conference.

“There has been times where I’ve seen him going a little faster than he probably should be going”, Harris said. The Texas seat belt legislation was approved in 2007 mandating all school buses be equipped with three point seat belts.

In Hamilton County, a quarter of the 305 buses had restraints.

National Transportation Safety Board officials said there were two cameras on the bus: one on the exterior and another on the interior.

Texas is one of six states with seat belt requirements for school buses. The administration has not, however, called for a national requirement. That’s when, according to the police report, he sideswiped a Kia Soul going in the opposite direction.

The study also concluded the costs for the safety belts exceeded the benefit, suggesting seat belts could only reduce rider fatality by 39 percent.

Brown said she has yet to see her son.

“Thankfully, the majority of these crashes that occur are very minor in nature and the children aren’t injured”, Sgt. Kim Montes of Florida Highway Patrol said.

The law however, would not take effect unless the legislature provided money for each district. “I know he gets in the same spot”.

Armstrong’s bill would have increased state and local expenditures by $5.5 million and $33.1 million, respectively, according to a fiscal note.

“When he talked to me, he was terrified”, Gwenevere Cook said. “You had some expert witnesses come to testify and say seat belts would have helped others say they wouldn’t”, McDaniel said.

Cook said she’s grieving for the families of the children killed – but said her son is also suffering.

“He has to live with that every day of his life”, said Fant. “I promise you”, said Fant. “I think when this is over it’s time to have a good conversation about everything around school buses”.

Neither the city of Chattanooga nor its schools interacts with the company, Chattanooga Mayor Berke said.

“The children are protected like eggs in an egg carton – compartmentalized, and surrounded with padding and structural integrity to secure the entire container”, The American School Bus Council says on its website. Bob Ruster of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department said the pickup was traveling east on Lake Michigan Drive and the school bus was southbound on 144th Avenue, and the bus pulled into the path of the truck.

“Student safety, bus safety is of paramount importance”, Ingall said.