Tragic Accident in McMinnville

[Fernie]

While I was home for a few days last week in McMinnville, we had a tragic accident last Thursday. A little 7 year olds boy was crossing the road to board the bus and was struck by a car and killed. The gal who hit him was suppossedly hurrying to work . The bus driver had been told by some of her students that the emergency lights weren't working. She reported it to the bus garage but chose not to have them bring her a different bus. After the accident, the father of the boy told her to go ahead with her route as there were about 30 kids on the bus who saw the accident. She left the scene of the accident and finished her route. She then took the bus to the bus garage where they immediately repaired the lights-----before the investigaters caught up with the bus. Such a sad turn of events. The lady was a 30 year veteren bus driver so knew better. Her husband is the pastor of a church on the same road the accident happened. They also sing as a Family---the Singing Nunleys. The road was a curvy 2 lane road which is accident prone. To make matters worse, another boy in the same class passed away from pneumonia. He had the flu and it turned into pneumonia and he spent about a month on a respirator at Vanderbelt in Nashville. It was much the same thing my niece had last month. Tayia is doing well. Her speech is nearly back to normal but they are still working with her on balance and motor skills.

Please keep the families of the two little boys, their classmates and teachers and everyone involved in your prayers. They need all the support they can get right now I am sure. I know we have several involved with schools and who drive busses so you can relate. It is just a reminder to all of us to watch out for busses and kids boarding them and to the drivers to always do what they know to do.

[Liz]

What a terrible series of events, each compounding the first. The bus driver must have been in shock to have left the scene. My prayers go out to those involved.

[Cedar518]

Horrible tragedy!

Bus driver should have REFUSED to have taken that bus another foot when she discovered the defective lights. If the bus garage wouldn't send a replacement bus the driver should have gone over the head of the person in the garage,..called the school superintendent. This is a huge lawsuit in the making now. I used to supervise a preschool program that ran a fleet of school buses. In NY it is illegal to run a bus with a defective light. Now a child is dead. Lost to their family forever. The driver should have radioed for a second bus to come for the remaining students,... (which should have been sheltered from viewing the scene) I have no sympathy for those in the garage or behind the wheel. They knew what was the right thing to do and chose not to do it.

For the families of the child killed and the child that died of pneumonia,.. my heart goes out to them,.. our children are precious angels. A terrible loss.

[Fernie]

I think the driver just didn't want to have to wait for a new bus. They offered to bring her a buss and she declined .
We think we can beat the odds even when we know we should do something differently. The authorities have seized the video tapes from the bus and there are criminal charges pending. I also heard the driver of the car was on drugs but that is unofficial. Just heard it yesterday but that wasn't in the paper. I campaigned for the DA there and believe me, I would not want her procecuting me on these charges. She has a little 6 year old so this will hit close to home with her!!! The bus driver was near her home and just probably within 5-6 miles from the school. She just made a stupid decision she will regret the rest of her life. It is so sad.

[Pooker]

The whole thing is just so sad. Humans make stupid mistakes, and we then have to pay for them. The bus driver will probably pay a huge price - lose her job, face charges, live with her bad decision; the mechanics at the bus garage will also have to face their part in this tragedy, and the driver of the car will also pay a huge price. We are all in such a hurry for one reason or another and something like this should make people think about priorities. The reason we are rushing isn't near as important as we think when balanced against the unthinkable happening.

My heart goes out to the families and the community.

[Cedar518]

I think the driver just didn't want to have to wait for a new bus. They offered to bring her a buss and she declined .

My point is that it was not about what the driver "wanted",... it was what was the law pertaining to mechanical operating condition of the bus. She was choosing to break a law and because of her bad choice now hearts are broken. Had she refused to move without a different bus that child would be alive. If she was in my program when i was director, she would have been fired immediately.

[sunshinecruiserTN]

I had read about that, how tragic.

[AlmostThere]

Will add my prayers for all involved. So tragic.

[avalen]

how tragic, so many variables in the situation but that poor bus driver will live with that
horror the rest of her life,

[Fernie]

I think she should be fired and the others involved in the cover-up as well on the bus being fixed before the investigators got there. There are growing rumors that the driver of the car was on drugs so she will do time on vehicular homicide if she was . I heard the bus driver hadn't left her house since the accident. Stupid decisions can change our lives forever as well as good decisions can change them for the better. All the regrets in the world doesn't bring the little boy back. It is just heartbreaking.

[SeeyaGal]

This is so sad and could have been avoided, I see criminal charges on both drivers coming.

[Fernie]

I just looked up tomorrow's paper from home on-line. They have arrested the bus driver and 3 of the mechanics at the school bus garage. They are charging the driver with reckless homicide, leaving the scene of the accident, intentional cover-up and lying to investigators. The paper said she had manually been pushing the stop sign out with the lights not working. She had motioned the kids to cross the road when the car that hit the little boy topped a hill and struck him. The other kids stepped back and missed being hit. The paper said the bus driver never got out of the bus to check on the boy. She left the scene of the accident, took the kids to school then took the bus to the bus garage, agreed to cover up the bus's malfunction. One mechanic changed the fuse which was the cause of the lights not working and disposed of the fuse before invesigators got there. All but one of the mechanics and the bus drivered lied to investigators about the bus not working. When they viewed the bus's video tape, the discovered the cover up. It is so sad!! To make it even harder to understand is that this woman is a Pastor's wife!!! Now she is looking at jail time. In Warren County, the cover-up adds fuel to anything they would have given her. So far the driver has not been charged and unless something would come back on a blood test or something like that, she probably won't be.

[Nasoosie]

Wow...this is a horrible tragedy that could have been completely avoided by the bus driver. Whatever was she thinking? I can't imagine the anguish of the family of the student that was killed and the nightmares of those kids that stepped back in time to avoid being hit. The whole thing just makes no sense. The bus driver deserves everything she gets.

[Cedar518]

They are charging the driver with reckless homicide, leaving the scene of the accident, intentional cover-up and lying to investigators. .....To make it even harder to understand is that this woman is a Pastor's wife!!!

Goes to show that being a pastor's wife,... or a pastor,... or a sunday school teacher, ...or a priest,... or a nun,..... or a "christian"... doesn't mean a thing unless you live your life in a good way,... That woman did not. People can live a good life, and never go to a church, and be more compassionate and loving and law abiding than some that carry those titles.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of that little boy that was killed.

[avalen]

one teeny tiny blown fuse changed the lives of so many
what a tragedy