TWINSBURG, Ohio – An Ohio man is out of a job after police pulled him over for driving a school bus loaded with students at twice the speed limit, according to WJW.
The Twinsburg City Schools driver was cited for going 50 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone on Post Road just after 2 p.m. Thursday, according to a copy of the citation.
Dashboard camera video showed an officer pursuing the speeding bus, with body camera video rolling as the officer asked the driver why he was going so fast. The driver simply said, “I’m sorry.”
Twinsburg City Schools Superintendent Kathi Powers said the bus had 48 students on board and was taking them home from R.B. Chamberlin Middle School.
Powers said the district pulled the driver from the bus after learning of the incident and placed him on leave, notifying parents of students who ride the bus. The driver submitted a letter of resignation to the district Friday and told FOX 8 News he apologized to the school for the error and embarrassment and feels badly about it.
“The bus driver is remorseful. I think it was just a lack of judgment, an error in his thinking,” she said, adding that she was surprised by the incident.
She said the driver was an employee since February 2013 and there was no record of prior problems in his file.
Power said she can’t recall any other Twinsburg drivers cited for speeding in her time with the district.
“I'm very sorry that happened, and we'll continue to look at our processes, remind our employees, provide professional development to ensure that employees are acting in the most safe manner to ensure the safety and well-being of our students,” she said. “We don't condone this type of behavior, can't condone it, we're talking about the safety of students.”
The traffic stop comes just days after a horrific, fatal bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the bus – which was carrying 37 children at the time – hit a mailbox, a utility pole, rolled onto its right side and then collided with a tree.
Recordings from inside the bus have been downloaded and are being evaluated.
