My first thought, after what a terrible tragedy, was cell phone as well. This will end up ruining two families, that of the children and that of the driver. Barring something like a health event that caused them to hit the children they should be facing a lengthy stay in prison.
Three families: The family that's lost three children ... the unrelated boy who was airlifted out and was listed as "critical, but now seems to be making progress ... and the driver. None of those families will ever be the same again.
Jeez back of the driver. 1. We don’t know what happened. 2. This person most likely did not wake up this morning and premeditate to hurt or kill a group of children this morning. Let’s keep our jails empty for this who do.
Her intentions are irrelevant. She is -- was? -- a children's director at a church. I assume that means she worked in day care. I doubt she's a bad person, but she did a very bad thing, and all the good intentions or good deeds in the world won't erase this mistake.
I've seen social media posts saying the school bus driver estimated the 24-year old driver's speed at 80 mph.
I wouldn't believe such details from social media.
I see their points which the article states is: "He says the family previously reached out to school officials to say it’s not safe for kids to cross the highway, especially at the time of the morning when it’s still dark. The school’s been warned. This is an issue. We have said this before. We’ve made complaints, not just them other parents. It’s not safe to walk a child across a highway, especially at that time because everybody’s going to work at that time".
I'm of two minds here: On the one hand, if the families who live in that trailer park have complained that the bus stop is unsafe, the school is Liable -- with a capital "L". On the other hand, if the families genuinely thought the bus stop was unsafe, why did they allow the kids to board the bus? I know, I know, parents who have to go to work, schedules ... but surely they had some options.
... plenty of children that unfortunately don't walk on the sidewalks, don't look both directions before crossing the street, dart out into the street to get to their friends house, if they are walking on the street they are not facing the correct way, even adults do it. You could have zero busses in our particular area but the risk is still there.
I agree that sometimes children dart out into traffic, and the driver genuinely isn't at fault ... but in this case, the driver ignored a huge yellow bus with flashing lights.
But, that amount of bail or bond does not strike me as unusual for an act that has been deemed unintentional (so far). She also fully cooperated with the authorities as far as I know, and the court probably felt she’s not a flight risk.
Yeah, an upstanding citizen ... employed by a church ... no criminal record. I'm not surprised that she received a rather low bond.
What they need to do, however, is put that driver on suicide watch.
The thing is, if you look at the pictures of her Toyota Tacoma, the hood was smashed pretty significantly and sticking up in the air. She hit them hard. I have to wonder looking at the pictures if she slowed down at all?
I thought the same thing. Looks like she hit those children at full speed.
The other thing I have an issue with is, she saw flashing lights, and didn't slow down, claiming she didn't recognize them as a school bus. Okay, but if not a bus, they'd likely be a tow truck helping a stranded motorist, or a police officer giving a ticket.
Yeah, even if she didn't recognize a school bus (how?), flashing lights NEVER MEAN "full speed ahead" or "all is well here". I don't see any way to defend her actions -- brain fart is not a defense.
One article said that she had taken her husband to work and was driving back to take her brother to their moms house to get ready for school, according to the article this isn't part of her normal routine.
I don't see how that makes any difference. You're responsible for your actions whether it's your regular route or not.
