Bus driver used to taunt students, slam brakes on purpose.
A Chattanooga, Tennessee mother, whose daughter died in the bus accident on Monday that shook the city, on Tuesday, said that she had repeatedly complained about the school bus driver months before the accident that killed five students.
Jasmine Mateen told local NBC affiliate WRCB that she had brought the issue before the board of education, the school, and the bus company after her children complained about the driver Johnthony Walker.
“I’ve been calling y’all since August,” Mateen said. “I said, ‘Now y’all doing what y’all supposed to been doing now that it’s too late … Y’all doing what y’all supposed to be doing, but my baby laying in a cold freezer.”
Mateen whose daughter died in the crash and two of her kids were seriously hurt, alleged that Walker used to taunt the students by “slamming on brakes on purpose, making all the kids hit their heads.”
A doctor who took care of the children who survived the crash said that the students were devastated that many of them even couldn’t spell their names.
“Many of them were scared or too dazed to talk to us,” Dr. Darvey Koller said in a news conference.
According to Hamilton County Department of Education, there were 37 students on board, all of whom attend Woodmore Elementary from grades Kindergarten to 5th. Six students died in the accident and 6 were critically injured. Among others, 6 were admitted but not critically injured, and 20 were treated and released from local hospitals.
Media reports say that the bus was traveling too fast exceeding the 30 mph speed limit and crashed into a tree when the driver lost the control. The driver Johnthony Walker was arrested and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, Reckless Endangerment, and Reckless Driving. He was jailed on $107,500 bail for a court appearance on Nov. 29.
Chattanooga Police Traffic Division investigators will be processing the scene overnight and determining the sequence of events related to the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board has also started an investigation into the mishap.
“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.”
Three of the children killed were in fourth grade, one was in first grade and another in kindergarten, said Kirk Kelly, interim superintendent of Hamilton County schools. The Chattanooga Police department will not be releasing victim names due to the fact that they all are juveniles.
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. In 2014, his license was suspended for a month for failing to show proof of insurance.