Calling the yesterday afternoon crash "every public safety professional's worst nightmare," Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher told an overnight news conference that 24-year-old bus driver Johnthony Walker was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. Walker was also charged with reckless driving and reckless endangerment.
Investigators were looking at speed "very, very strongly" as a factor in the crash, Fletcher said earlier. An arrest affidavit posted online by Chattanooga station WTVC says Walker was driving well above the posted 30 mph speed limit on a narrow, winding road. His bond was set at USD 107,500, according to the affidavit.
The Associated Press was not immediately able to reach officials today morning to explain the discrepancy.
Thirty-five students from kindergarten through fifth grade were on board when the bus flipped onto its side and wrapped around a tree. The bus was the only vehicle involved in the crash, but Fletcher said the scene was complicated and covered a significant area. He also said a warrant had been issued to remove the bus' black box, which contains data about the vehicle's movement.
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Emergency responders needed almost two hours to get all the children off the bus.
Television cameras showed emergency vehicles still there late into the night, and the National Transportation Safety Board tweeted that a team would be heading to Chattanooga today morning to investigate.
Craig Harris, a parent of two children who were on the bus, told ABC's "Good Morning America" today morning he thought the bus driver sometimes drove too fast.
Harris said his daughter and stepson were in shock and pain after the crash but were doing better today morning.
Television stations reported that people lined up to donate blood and some donors were asked to make appointments for today.
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