Bus driver asked kids if they were ‘ready to die’ before fatal crash

School bus driver, Johnthony Walker, 24,  asked the chilling question seconds before the yellow bus slammed into a telephone pole and a tree.

5 young students died in the crash scene,  one died in hospital, a dozen injured on Monday, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Walker was well above the 30-mph speed limit while driving 35 students home from the Woodmore Elementary School, in Chattanooga, Monday

The bus crashed on a narrow road about a mile from the school Walker has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving

He was held on $107,500 bond

 

 

The driver of a Tennessee school bus that crashed and killed five children allegedly, asked the kids if they were “ready to die” as he sped along a Chattanooga road. A mom who lost one of her three children
A mom who had three students aboard the bus said the 24-year-old man operating the bus asked the chilling question seconds before the yellow bus slammed into a telephone pole and a tree, CBS News reports. She had complained repeatedly about Walker’s behaviour, in the past, but that no officials had responded, she said.
According to Police Chief Fred Fletcher,  bus driver, Johnthony Walker,  was well above the 30-mph speed limit while driving 35 students home from the Woodmore Elementary School on Monday, crashing on a narrow road about a mile from the school.
A student aboard the bus said the driver “wasn’t paying attention and was going real fast.”
Walker was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. He was held on $107,500 bond.
The the Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office, said school claim to have found no record of complaints against Walker.

Victim: Zoie Nash 9, years old lost her life in the crash

Victim: 10-year-old Zyanna Harris

It was not immediately clear how long Johnthony Walker had been licensed to drive a school bus. His employers, an Illinois-based company contracted to run the district’s school buses released a statement saying it was devastated by the tragedy.
“We are working with the Chattanooga Police Department and Hamilton County School District to investigate,” said David Duke, head of Durham School Services. “We also have additional team members arriving in Chattanooga today to provide support.”
He declined to provide information about the driver.
“There are no words to comfort the broken heart of a mother or father,” Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said in a statement. “I pray for families affected by [this] tragedy.”
Five children were killed at the crash scene, police said, another student died in hospital bringing the death toll to six.

Victim: 6-year-old Zayira (left) was one of three siblings aboard the school bus. She lost her life in the crash

Victim: 9-year-old Cordayja-Jones

delivering an update on the tragic event,  Hamilton County schools interim Superintendent Kirk Kelly reported that among the injured students still hospitalized, six were in critical condition and six were stable.The dead included a kindergartner, a first-grader and three fourth-grade students,
“This is something we will never forget as a community,” Kelly said Tuesday.