A man is facing criminal charges for an accident that killed one person in July 2016. The man was driving a bus along Highway 106 when he fell asleep. The bus overturned. Eight people, one of whom was the driver who is now facing charges, were injured. Another woman died.
The driver is now facing three counts of second-degree reckless injury, one count of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and three counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety. He faces a total of 77 years behind bars if he is convicted on all of these charges.
Alcohol isn’t thought to be a factor in this case. The driver did admit to having alcohol before he went to bed the night prior to the accident. He hadn’t have any since he woke up at 5:30 on the morning of the accident.
His blood alcohol concentration was only .02 percent at the time of the accident. This is lower than the .04 percent that is the legal limit for commercial drivers in Wisconsin.
The man says that he wasn’t fatigued when he started his shift that morning but that he drifted to sleep along his route after placing the bus on cruise control at 60 miles per hour. Interestingly, the restraint control module clocked the bus at more than 70 miles per hour before the accident with a deceleration to 54.7 miles per hour before the accident. It is noted that this is consistent with his story that he fell asleep.
For the people who were hurt and the family of the woman who was killed, this accident was likely a devastating occurrence. They must now pick up the pieces and try to move on with life.
If you are facing a similar situation, you might opt to seek compensation for the injury or death. This can be done in addition to any criminal charges that might be filed related to the accident.
Source: Daily Union, “Homicide charges filed in deadly Hebron bus crash,” Ryan Whisner, Jan. 10, 2017
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