Doctor: Some school bus crash survivors 'too dazed to talk'

driver sometimes drove too fast.

"There has been times where I've seen him going a little faster than he probably should be going," Harris said.

Walker had been in an accident in September. According to the police report, he was heading into a blind curve and hit an SUV when he crossed over into the oncoming lane to maneuver the bus around the bend. There were no children in the front rows of the bus and no reports of injuries, and the damage to both vehicles was considered minor.

Previously, Walker's license had been suspended for about a month in 2014 for failure to show proof of insurance, according to state commercial driver records. He appeared to have no criminal record in Tennessee, authorities said.

Hamilton County School District spokeswoman Amy Kutcher declined to say whether the district had received any complaints involving Walker, who was employed by an outside bus contractor, Durham School Services. She referred all questions about his performance and that of other Durham drivers to the company.

"Legally, there is no way that we could discipline someone who is not our employee," Kutcher said. "We've got 192 Durham bus drivers. Obviously, this is a bad one."

Durham CEO David A. Duke issued a statement on Twitter saying the company was "devastated" by the accident and working with police and school officials to investigate. Company officials did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Based in Warrenville, Illinois, Durham operates about 13,700 vehicles across the U.S. and has nearly as many drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It had a "satisfactory" safety rating from the agency in July 2015.

The company has had 346 crashes over two years, including three resulting in deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show. During that period, it had 53 incidents involving unsafe driving violations.

Associated Press writers Rebecca Reynolds Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky, and Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.