UPDATE: Driver in fatal Woodmore bus crash indicted on six counts of vehicular homicide

March 8, 2017 at 5:15 p.m. | Updated March 8, 2017 at 5:51 p.m.

by Zack Peterson

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 12/15/16. Johnthony Walker, the driver involved in the November 21, 2016 school bus crash that sent 31 of the 37 students on board to the hospital resulting in six fatalities, appears before Judge Lila Statom in Hamilton County General Sessions Court on December 15, 2016 for charges of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. Walker’s case was bound over to the grand jury after an hour and a half of testimony from two Chattanooga Police Department officers.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 12/15/16. Johnthony Walker, the driver involved in the November 21, 2016 school bus crash that sent 31 of the 37 students on board to the hospital resulting in six fatalities, appears before Judge Lila Statom in Hamilton County General Sessions Court on December 15, 2016 for charges of vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. Walker’s case was bound over to the grand jury after an hour and a half of testimony from two Chattanooga Police Department officers.

Johnthony Walker, the 24-year-old bus driver charged in connection with the deadly Woodmore accident, has been indicted on six counts of vehicular homicide, records show.

Grand jurors also charged Walker with four counts of reckless aggravated assault, one count of reckless endangerment, one count of reckless driving, and one count of use of portable electronic device by school bus driver, records show.

He will be arraigned March 24 before Criminal Court Judge Don Poole.

Authorities say Walker was speeding on Talley Road when he swerved into a tree with 37 Woodmore Elementary students onboard, killing six children and injuring several more.

A Sessions Court judge said in December enough evidence existed to send Walker to the grand jury, which meets in secret.

Walker has been in Hamilton County Jail since the crash and faces about dozen lawsuits in Circuit Court.

Upcoming Events