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School Bus Driver Charged in Deadly Chattanooga Crash
abcnews.go.com ^ | November 22, 2016 | jonathan mattise

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 ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: 1moretime; arth; chattanooga; crash; schoolbus
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: Morgana
The socialists running the public school system are equally out of control ... just in a different and slower acting way.

The graduates are wrecks after HS.

22 posted on 11/22/2016 1:43:35 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true .. I have no proof, but they're true.)
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To: Morgana

I took a lot of bus trips as a HS baseball coach in SoCal. It still seemed the nature of things here that the drivers were always in their forties and had been very heavily vetted.


23 posted on 11/22/2016 1:44:13 PM PST by onedoug
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To: Morgana

“Johnthony Walker, 24”

I want to know whyTF some young kid was allowed to drive a school bus at all?


24 posted on 11/22/2016 1:46:28 PM PST by PLMerite (Lord, let me die fighting lions. Amen.)
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To: Republicanprofessor

I used to drive a school bus... 60, 70, sometimes 80 kids under 12. You do not want to have to go around undoing seatbelts on 5, 6, 7, or 8 years olds who are panicking should the bus catch fire or you get stuck on a railroad track.


25 posted on 11/22/2016 1:46:37 PM PST by Az Joe (11-8-2016-----We're still here President Reagan!!)
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To: gigster

I used to drive a school bus... 60, 70, sometimes 80 kids under 12. You do not want to have to go around undoing seatbelts on 5, 6, 7, or 8 years olds who are panicking should the bus catch fire or you get stuck on a railroad track.


26 posted on 11/22/2016 1:47:06 PM PST by Az Joe (11-8-2016-----We're still here President Reagan!!)
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To: Sans-Culotte

I used to drive a school bus... 60, 70, sometimes 80 kids under 12. You do not want to have to go around undoing seatbelts on 5, 6, 7, or 8 years olds who are panicking should the bus catch fire or you get stuck on a railroad track.


27 posted on 11/22/2016 1:47:31 PM PST by Az Joe (11-8-2016-----We're still here President Reagan!!)
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To: DungeonMaster

For info on that company, see my links in this thread...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3497241/posts


28 posted on 11/22/2016 1:47:46 PM PST by mewzilla (I'll vote for the first guy who promises to mail in his SOTU addresses.)
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To: Morgana

I wonder what the driver’s religious background is.


29 posted on 11/22/2016 1:48:28 PM PST by Az Joe (11-8-2016-----We're still here President Reagan!!)
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To: Morgana

Meth probably..maybe crack too


30 posted on 11/22/2016 1:50:44 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: Deo volente
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.

Okay, NOW it's time to look into his affiliations.

31 posted on 11/22/2016 2:00:43 PM PST by A_perfect_lady
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To: Morgana

Why do we have fools with reddened eyes (a sure sign of pot-smoking) driving buses?!


32 posted on 11/22/2016 2:02:10 PM PST by miss marmelstein
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To: Deo volente
"Premeditated first-degree murder."

Yes. The witnesses' statements of what the driver said indicates intent.

33 posted on 11/22/2016 2:04:24 PM PST by Carl Vehse
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To: Sans-Culotte

So who is responsible for unbuckling all the kindergarteners’ seat belts in the event of a fire?

A 60 passenger vehicle which can potentially be filled with people unable to unbuckle themselves is more dangerous with seat belts than without.


34 posted on 11/22/2016 2:08:19 PM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: WayneS
So who is responsible for unbuckling all the kindergarteners’ seat belts in the event of a fire?

The question is: how often do school bus wrecks happen, and in those wrecks, what causes most of the injuries/fatalities? If fire is the culprit, then maybe they do not need to be buckled in. Most of the fatalities I hear about in school bus wrecks are due to injuries sustained because the kids were not buckled in, such as the one that just occurred.

35 posted on 11/22/2016 2:13:08 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!)
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To: Sans-Culotte

Whatever you say.


36 posted on 11/22/2016 2:15:25 PM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: Morgana

The worm got the job because he enjoys protective pigmentation.


37 posted on 11/22/2016 2:18:39 PM PST by I want the USA back (Lying Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: WayneS
Whatever you say.

I say that was such a weak reply you would have done better to say nothing at all.

38 posted on 11/22/2016 2:19:51 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!)
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To: Sans-Culotte

Okay.

Nothing at all.


39 posted on 11/22/2016 2:20:29 PM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill)
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To: BlueStateRightist
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.

That is indeed the argument. It is reviewed regularly. I will leave it up to the safety engineers to make the call. The soccer moms will always opt for what would have been desirable in the last accident, but that's not a good way to make policy.

Busses are considered inherently safe because of their size, weight, and large crumple zones. A head-on collision with a tractor-trailer or getting T-boned by a train or sailing off a mountain cliff will be bad in any vehicle, with or without seatbelts, but busses tend to be forgiving in most accidents. Getting out quickly in the event of fire is important.

40 posted on 11/22/2016 2:31:14 PM PST by sphinx
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