In a fatal bus crash on Monday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the bus driver reportedly said some truly disturbing final words to the children.
Before speeding around a curb and wrecking the bus, the driver, Johnthony Walker, reportedly said to the kids: “Are y’all ready to die?”
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A mother of three children who were on the bus during the crash, including one who died, said her daughter was the one to reveal Walker’s chilling last words.
The woman told CBS News Radio, “My daughter said, right before the bus flipped, that he was speeding around the curb, and asked them, ‘are y’all ready to die?’”
Five children were killed and another 23 more were injured, according to Daily Mail. The arrest affidavit explained that Walker was driving the bus well above the 30 mph speed limit before flipping the bus and wrapping it around a tree.
As of Tuesday morning, six of the students that were on the bus during the crash were still in intensive care while six others are hospitalized.
Kirk Kelly, the Interim superintendent for Hamilton County Schools said that four of the five children killed were girls. Three of the kids were in fourth-grade, one was in first-grade, and the last was in kindergarten.
The 24-year-old bus driver has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide in addition to reckless driving and reckless endangerment.
Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said that the crash was “every public safety professional’s worst nightmare.”
“Our hearts go out, as well as the hearts of all of these people behind me, to the families, the school, for all the people involved in this, we assure you we are doing everything we can,” said Fletcher.
Craig Harris, a man whose daughter and stepson were both on the bus, said that he does not know Johnthony Walker personally but has seen him driving faster than he ought to in a school bus on several occasions.
“There has been times where I’ve seen him going a little faster than he probably should be going,” Harris said. “That’s the reason why I tried to be there in the mornings when he’s pulling up.”
Harris also claimed that Walker would often let his children off the bus at different locations along the street.
“I kind of figured that wasn’t something he was supposed to be doing,” Harris said.
Harris’ daughter and stepson were not killed in the crash, but were experiencing shock and pain.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam addressed the issue and said the crash was “a tragic event.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to assist in any way,” Haslam said. “It’s a sad situation anytime there’s a school bus with children involved, which there is in this case.”
Johnthony Walker was jailed with bail set at $107,500. He is expected to appear in court on November 29.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this horrible tragedy.
[H/T Daily Mail]
