Parents, students mourn as bus crash probe continues
Driver, 24, is charged with five counts of vehicular homicide
Children filed into Woodmore Elementary School as day broke Tuesday, a familiar routine marred by a tragedy that rocked families across Chattanooga, the state and the nation.
There was none of the familiar laughter that marks many elementary schoolyards. Most of the children held tight to a parent’s hand and said nothing as television cameras hovered on the periphery of the campus 6 miles southeast of downtown Chattanooga.
Tuesday morning, state, local and national authorities continued to investigate a school bus crash that killed five elementaryage students and injured a dozen others.
The community began to pull together in the aftermath of the devastating crash Monday afternoon in the Brainerd area.
Many of the parents and guardians who walked students to school Tuesday said they had struggled to talk with the children about the crash that killed their classmates and injured many more.
“You can’t explain nothing like this,” Doris Toney said after dropping her niece off. “I don’t even know what to say to her.”
Demetrius Jenkins had yet to discuss the crash with his 6-yearold son.
Outside the school, Jenkins said one of his son’s friends was among the dead.
“I don’t know how he would react,” Jenkins said. “He’s not so familiar with death.
“He’s going to eventually find out because we will be at the funeral.”
At a loss for what to do next, Jenkins reached into his car before leaving the school.
He pulled out two teddy bears and leaned them against the empty flagpole.
Moments later, officials came out to raise a flag to half-staff.
“We mourn with the Woodmore Elementary School students and staff as they try to come to grips with this tragic accident,” Hamilton County Superintendent Kirk Kelly said outside the school Tuesday. “Our hearts go out with the families.”
Kelly said that of the 37 children on the bus, five students — a kindergartner, a first-grader and three fourth-graders — were killed in the crash. Twelve children, he said, remained hospitalized.
Of those hospitalized, six were in intensive care, Kelly said.
The remaining 20 students, he said, were home with their families.
In light of the crash, he said, district officials decided to keep schools open Tuesday to help the community with the grieving process.
Kelly said grief counselors will be on hand.
“We are ... dealing with an unimaginable loss,” Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said Tuesday. “The most unnatural thing in the world is for a parent to mourn the loss of a child.”
According to an arrest affidavit, the school bus driver was going at a high speed when the bus crashed.
The affidavit, which was posted online by Chattanooga station WTVC, says driver Johnthony Walker was driving well above the posted speed limit of 30 mph Monday afternoon when the bus left the narrow, winding road and eventually struck a tree.
Walker, 24, was arrested and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, along with reckless driving and reckless endangerment.
The affidavit says the charges were brought against Walker because of the reckless nature of his driving combined with his high rate of speed.
Walker’s bond was set at $107,500.
Also Tuesday morning, National Transportation and Safety Board Chairman Christopher Hart confirmed that the agency is investigating the crash.
“We are looking at what caused the accident to try and prevent it from happening again,” Hart said during a news conference in Washington.
A final report could take as long as a year, he said.