Thanks, Ron. I will make a concerted effort to elaborate in the future. Can definitely see how my comment could be misconstrued.
Yea, a simple "that dude looks a bit young for that job" is a lot better than "can't believe one of those was driving a bus" then following up with "and by 'those' I meant young person" a week later.
No attack, not from me at least. I was legit befuddled.
I think these guys have seen other comment sections already. (shudder)
Those are the fucking worst.
I understand...and the comment a week later is simply because I am still mourning a recent loss in my family and have been a bit dark lately. Thanks again.
So, he deviated from the actual route, was speeding and there were previous complaints against him. He was employed by a company who was contracted for bus services...the company has had some past safety concerns.
It said the complaints were forwarded to Durham School Services, the private company that is contracted to provide bus services for the school system, for whom Walker worked.
Hart, of the NTSB, said Durham was operating under a "conditional" federal safety rating, meaning some unspecified problems had been uncovered in the past, but that they had been resolved satisfactorily, in August 2015.http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...d-left-n687851He said investigators were going back over Durham's oversight and crash history.
In a brief video statement, David A. Duke, the company's chief executive, expressed deep grief and promised to provide any support necessary for the families of the children "who were taken from their families with so much life that was taken away."
Here is an interesting article about the issues his employer has had throughout the years:
http://paydayreport.com/deadly-chatt...ty-violations/
More info about complaints made about the driver, including reports made by the principal to the school system's transportation director: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/l...udents/399762/
Okay, I guarantee this is how it went down:
He had zero patience and shouldn't have been a bus driver #1. He would get fed up with the kids acting up and would swerve around to try to knock them over to teach them a lesson about staying in their seats. The day of the crash, that's what he was doing and lost control. It's entirely possible that he said "Are you ready to die" as an empty threat before swerving around to scare them.
Do they even screen these people they hire to drive? Because by the sounds of it, this guy had issues from the get go. Speeding around et al.
I had a feeling this was the issue, that is why I was angry. The sheer apathy this guy had towards the children is gross.
I could totally see this actually happening.
Who is the "them" you are referring to? I do have resentment towards this bus driver, but not because he's black, because he was driving like an asshole with precious cargo on board.
I would encourage the parents of the children victims to sue the school. They received enough complaints to know this guy could be a threat to their students.
Damn. I was hoping it was bullshit but some bus drivers just HATE school kids. I've seen kids reduced to tears over nothing on public buses. Drivers like that completely lose it if adult passengers step in & tell them to lay off. Everyone I've seen like that has been some red-faced crotchety old man though
Also, I realise now we should've been referencing the South Park bus driver, not The Simpsons.
RIP little ones
& ffs sake people, if your temperament is so poorly suited to your job that you're placing the lives of others & your own future at risk, QUIT YOUR JOB
I don't know anything about it, I just know that around here we have buses by certain schools or busy corners with a number to call if you want to be a bus driver...it makes it seem like they're just desperate because more people don't want to deal with a bunch of crazy kids not listening to them.
More information coming out now about previous issues that had been going on.
'It feels like the bus is going to flip over...': Students and administrators complained about Tennessee bus driver's 'erratic driving' before fatal crash
Complaints were lodged in the weeks before a Tennessee school bus driver crashed into a tree and killed six children on his route, it has been revealed. *
Police have charged driver Johnthony Walker with vehicular homicide after the Chattanooga crash, for which 37 children were on board.**
Records released by the school district Friday include two written statements by students complaining about Walker's driving.
'The bus driver drives fast,' one student wrote earlier this month.*
'It feels like the bus is going to flip over... When someone is in the aisle he stops the bus and he makes people hit their heads.'
Another student wrote: 'The bus driver was doing sharp turns and he made me fly over to the next seat. We need seat belts.'
On November 2, a school official boarded the bus after the driver complained that students were not listening to him. One student had complained about the heat on the bus and cursed about it to the bus driver.
'The driver was now visibly upset and continued on by saying that he had another job and driving this bus was just a part-time job for him,' wrote Carlis Shackelford, a behavioral specialist at the school.
'Driver stated that he could just leave him at the school. He then stated "or I can just leave the student on the bus and I will get off the bus and leave the school".
'Driver stated that he did not care about the students and proceeded to tell the students he did not care about them,' Shackelford wrote.
The school district's transportation supervisor, Benjamin Coulter, responded that 'we are addressing the issue with the driver.'
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Christopher A. Hart said in a news conference earlier this week that Walker had taken on a second job at an Amazon fulfillment center, and part of the agency's investigation will look at whether fatigue played a role in the wreck.
The bus driver had also complained to administrators that students would not listen to him when he told them not to stand on the bus or sit with their backs facing the front.
The driver submitted ten names of students he said were misbehaving.
The transportation supervisor responded that the driver may have had some legitimate safety concerns but that the driver shouldn't report so many students.
'I don't want the driver to become discouraged, but he can't be turning ten referrals in a day to you, either,' Coulter wrote.
Woodmore Principal Brenda Adamson-Cothran asked for video of the bus leaving campus, noting that a few days earlier 'the driver, in my opinion, was driving way too fast when he pulled out of our school.'
It's unclear what the video showed; hyperlinks to it are redacted in the records.
On November 16, Adamson-Cothran wrote to Coulter to tell him six students had reported that the driver 'was swerving and purposely trying to cause them to fall today.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tal-crash.html
He was going 20 over the speed limit
The driver in the crash that killed six children was speeding about 20 miles per hour over the limit, police testified Thursday
10tv.com
I'm pretty sure to BE a bus driver, you have to be a sociopath with no regard for the law?
Didn't it say that the way he usually goes was blocked off and he had to take a different way? so he was late because he had to switch it up. I'm sure parents would have rather he go the speed limit and have them arrive late than this. I'm sure at the time the parents wouldn't like it, but obviously it's better.
A federal lawsuit says the driver had a "sadistic" habit of driving recklessly and slamming on the brakes to discipline the children
10tv.com
http://www.10tv.com/article/lawsuit-...k-was-sadistic
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/johnthon...of-6-children/A Chattanooga school bus driver has been indicted on six counts of vehicular homicide in a crash last November that killed a half-dozen children.
Media reported Wednesday that 24-year-old Johnthony Walker also was charged by a grand jury with four counts of reckless aggravated assault, one count of reckless endangerment, one count of reckless driving and one count of use of a portable electronic device by a school bus driver.
Arraignment is scheduled March 24 before Criminal Court Judge Don Poole.
Authorities have said Walker was speeding Nov. 21 when the bus swerved into a tree with 37 elementary school students aboard, killing six children and injuring several more.
Jailed since the wreck, Walker is facing about a dozen lawsuits arising from the crash.
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