Three siblings killed getting on school bus

[sam_gordon]

I’m 30 minutes south of where this happened. Sunrise 8:12am. It is still dark at 730 am.

Thanks. I just wanted to rule that out. Other possibilities not the the driver's control... was the bus around a curve or over a hill?

The driver was probably distracted by something. May have been a phone, a crying kid in the back seat, a spilled drink, or many other things. And no, I'm not saying any of that excuses her. But I do feel sorry for her. She's going to have to live every day for the rest of her life knowing she took three innocent lives.

 

[HopperFan]

The road is a rural road- most rural roads have double yellow lines. This was not a busy road

I've been on lots of rural roads and my experience is that folks drive fast. You also have less traffic, less lights/stops and less patrolling. I have family that lives in rural areas and I find the speed at which people drive terrifying. The photo shows double yellow lines and a curves in both directions before/after bus. It was also well over an hour before sunrise (reports say it was 7 am) on a rural road with no lights.

Not saying the driver is not at fault, she's already been charged, just saying had the district had safer protocols, even with this driver the kids, would have been safe. I find it unacceptable that a school district allows kids to cross a road like this. If it were my family, I would be suing the school district for putting my children in danger.

 

[Skellingtonj]

Because as others have said you don't know the whole story.

Too many times people jump into a situation without all the facts and just make things worse.

For example on a recent flight I was on a woman was traveling with her cat. The person seated next to her was pitching a fit with the flight attendant that they did not want to sit next to someone inconsiderate enough to fly with a cat. I ended up swapping seats with the angry person so they didn't have to sit next to the "crazy cat lady" as they put it. I talked to the woman with the cat who was at this point in tears. She was traveling to her sisters to drop off her cat before heading to the Mayo Clinic for an experimental treatment that might prolong her life a few months.

You don't know the whole story.

Let the people assigned to this woman's jury be the ones who judge her.

You are not her God, you are not on her jury.

She.killed.three.children. I don’t care what her story is. Jesus. If this happened to a family on here, god forbid, none of you would defend the driver of the truck. Why are you now???

 

[Skellingtonj]

That's a very easy knee jerk reaction...an a common one. Let me ask you this...have you ever made a mistake behind the wheel? Ever? Had a single moment of inattention? Ever? If you're being honest, the answer is yes. You just happened to be lucky it didn't cost someone their life, just like most of us. If in fact this was innattention, she deserves to be charged, I agree. But the blind anger....as horribly sad as this situation is...is misguided IMO. Just hope next time you accidentally turn left in front of someone or look down for a second it doesn't end in tragedy.

It is not at all condoning distracted driving. As many here know, I am in auto insurance claims for a living. I have seen the horrific results of this type of situation from all sides. None of them are pretty.

Have I ever gone around a school bus and killed 3 children??? No.

 

[kdonnel]

So you're suggesting there may be some margin for error that they have the wrong woman in custody or that there are some possible circumstances that would mitigate her responsibility?

I’m saying that at this point none of us know the facts. We know what has been reported and often times initial reports are incomplete and wrong. Only a jury will be presented with all the facts. Only they can judge someone.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

This is what I did not understand when I read the article. Our district absolutely will not allow kids to cross the street to a bus, not even a side street (which from photos this looked to be a road busy enough for yellow lines painted). There are either two bus routes that cover each side of road or a bus will do a u-turn at some point and come back for the kids. NO kid is to enter/cross a street to get to a bus.

I wish more schools would adopt this practice. Our district cut back on buses this year and the routes. There are several locations now where the buses don't go into subdivisions, they just drop off at the main street. The first week of school I was behind a bus that dropped off a handful of kids at the entrance of a subdivision, but several (young) kids who lived on the street the bus was traveling also got off. There are no sidewalks on this street, so these kids had to walk in front of the school bus to get to their houses, that is until there was room for the bus to pass them (which it did), leaving a few kids walking on a busy road to get home. I was livid! I must not have been the only one because a couple days later I got behind the same bus and it stopped at each house.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I don't know how things work in the state where this occurred, but here, it would typically take more than a moment of inattention to pass a stopped bus. They have flashing lights on the bus that are on at all times, so you notice them from quite a distance. Then they put on additional lights as they are about to stop to capture attention of vehicles closest to them to warn them. Then they stop. Then they put out the stop sign. Then they put out the arm. And only after all of that do they open the door for the children.

Now, a blind turn or a hill could take away that advance warning, BUT there's still the fact that when driving at typical school bus movement times, drivers ought to be more cautious simply because of the increased chance of coming across a bus.

Exactly... Short of a mechanical malfunction, medical emergency behind the wheel, or scenarios you mention here, there is really no excuse for this kind of “mistake”. Could it happen to me? Of course. That doesn’t take any culpability away though.

 

[IndianaMouse]

This has been a heartbreaking week for this area of Indiana . Today we have 3 dead children and one severely injured child because of an irresponsible driver , and a dead 3 year old who shot himself in the face because of an irresponsible gun owner. Each of these incidences happened within 20 minutes of me and I'm already seeing/hearing and feeling how both of these "accidents" are affecting the surrounding communities. It's heartbreaking and some people are extremely angry, they want immediate answers and results. As the days and hours wear on people are beginning to argue and even fight with their friends, co-workers, neighbors and families. My FB looks like a war zone between people who have sympathy for the irresponsible parties of both "accidents" and the people who want justice. People turning on each other is making 2 horrible situations even worse to deal with. And now that word is out that Alyssa Shepherd has bonded out of jail, the death threats have started. My prayers are with all of these babies , the 3 siblings killed and the one injured this morning, the 3 year old who died of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the face and for Alyssa Shepherds children. They are all innocent in this nightmare.

If you can find it in yourself, while you are praying for these families, please say prayer for the surrounding communities to pull together so that they can be a support for these families and their loved ones, which they so desperately need.

 

[lovemygoofy]

This girl had to be flying down the country road and I'm guessing regularly drove it so comfortable with the curves. To have the impact of almost instantly killing 3 children and causing multiple broken bones injury to the 4th she had to be going too fast and likely never hesitated or slowed down to do that much damage to these children. I'm, however, confused did she stop at the scene? Was she released from the accident site? She was arrested at work later today, which is why I don't understand what happened with her at the accident site itself. The news didn't mention much on this parts this evening.

 

[IndianaMouse]

This girl had to be flying down the country road and I'm guessing regularly drove it so comfortable with the curves. To have the impact of almost instantly killing 3 children and causing multiple broken bones injury to the 4th she had to be going too fast and likely never hesitated or slowed down to do that much damage to these children. I'm, however, confused did she stop at the scene? Was she released from the accident site? She was arrested at work later today, which is why I don't understand what happened with her at the accident site itself. The news didn't mention much on this parts this evening.

She did stay at the scene and cooperated with the police. They tested her for drugs and alcohol and then released her. She did return to work, but what the media is not telling people is that she works at the same church that she attends. Most likely she was not there to work today, but to seek guidance and support from her pastor, family and friends. I'm not defending this woman, just giving information.

 

[lovemygoofy]

She did stay at the scene and cooperated with the police. They tested her for drugs and alcohol and then released her. She did return to work, but what the media is not telling people is that she works at the same church that she attends. Most likely she was not there to work today, but to seek guidance and support from her pastor, family and friends. I'm not defending this woman, just giving information.

I was just wondering out loud because it's those little things that haven't been shared. I have known 2 different children killed from being hit by a car and one guy ran off and later arrested and the other arrested on the scene. My limited scope of experience caused me to wonder and not understand and limited information of course.

 

[Oliviaxxx]

I feel so awful for everyone involved. What a horrible day this is for everyone who was apart of this. There are no words to explain what a tragedy this is. The driver was so young too. She will live what she has done her whole life. People are in such a hurry these days. I work with high school students. They are on top of the world when they get their licenses. I remind them to be cautious and alert at all times. When you are driving it takes a split second for something to go wrong.

"The driver of the pickup truck, Alyssa Shepherd, 24, taken into custody Tuesday afternoon and charged with three counts of reckless homicide, and one misdemeanor count of disregarding a stop sign and causing injury, officials told ABC News. Shepherd is being held at the Fulton County Jail on $15,000 surety bond, officials said in a news release."

 

[Colleen27]

This is what I did not understand when I read the article. Our district absolutely will not allow kids to cross the street to a bus, not even a side street (which from photos this looked to be a road busy enough for yellow lines painted). There are either two bus routes that cover each side of road or a bus will do a u-turn at some point and come back for the kids. NO kid is to enter/cross a street to get to a bus.

I think districts with the resources to do that are probably the exception rather than the rule. Our district covers 125 square miles. There isn't enough time, money, staff or buses to make sure no child has to cross the street to get to the stop. It is done on very busy/major roads, but it just can't be the norm for the whole district. That's why we have buses with bright flashing lights and stop arms, and laws requiring drivers to stop!

 

[runwad]

Horrible and so incredibly sad for all involved parties

 

[CdnCarrie]

Hard to miss a bright yellow bus on a open country road.
Sorry no excuses for this? Deserves long jail sentence.

 

[underdesea]

I was just wondering out loud because it's those little things that haven't been shared. I have known 2 different children killed from being hit by a car and one guy ran off and later arrested and the other arrested on the scene. My limited scope of experience caused me to wonder and not understand and limited information of course.

I've seen social media posts saying the school bus driver estimated the 24-year old driver's speed at 80 mph. Don't know if there is validity to those posts. The stretch of road where the tragedy happened is a 55 mph speed limit according to media reports. It is book- ended by curves with each having a 45 mph speed limit. A woman who lives near the crash site was quoted as saying several accidents have happened in that stretch and that her dogs have been hit. It really seems like a horrible confluence of dangerous bus stop logistics and dangerous driving, perhaps exacerbated by darkness. Such a heart-breaking tragedy. I don't have children and am sick over this; I cannot imagine what the families are going through.

 

[LSUmiss]

Because as others have said you don't know the whole story.

Too many times people jump into a situation without all the facts and just make things worse.

For example on a recent flight I was on a woman was traveling with her cat. The person seated next to her was pitching a fit with the flight attendant that they did not want to sit next to someone inconsiderate enough to fly with a cat. I ended up swapping seats with the angry person so they didn't have to sit next to the "crazy cat lady" as they put it. I talked to the woman with the cat who was at this point in tears. She was traveling to her sisters to drop off her cat before heading to the Mayo Clinic for an experimental treatment that might prolong her life a few months.

You don't know the whole story.

Let the people assigned to this woman's jury be the ones who judge her.

You are not her God, you are not on her jury.

I get what you’re saying but being rude about sitting next to a cat & killing 3 children are very different.

 

[GreatLakes]

She has now been charged with reckless homicide, 3 counts. Sorry, edited to correct charge details.

Good. It doesn't matter if it was a phone or some other distraction, if you kill someone because you were distracted you should be charged and do jail time. A bus means stop, not go slow or ignore it or be traveling so fast you can't stop in time. It means stop.

 

[underdesea]

Good. It doesn't matter if it was a phone or some other distraction, if you kill someone because you were distracted you should be charged and do jail time. A bus means stop, not go slow or ignore it or be traveling so fast you can't stop in time. It means stop.

I was not taking a side or defending the driver. Just reporting the media coverage we've been getting. It's been a sad day in our state.

 

[underdesea]

Hopefully by pleading guilty and sparing the family the heartbreak and the state the public expense of a trial.

Not sure how your story about the lady with the cat relates to this situation in any way. One is a case of an impatient traveler behaving ungraciously to a person who unfortunately was already bearing an emotional burden. The other is a case where inattention, whatever the reason, senselessly ended the lives of 3 children and maimed another. I'd be interested to hear any possible scenario you could theorize that would come close to defending what's happened. Unless there was a mechanical failure or extreme medical incident, (and I've seen neither suggested) it really doesn't matter where she was going or what state of mind she might have been in. Doesn't matter at all.

Just speculating, but I would think a defense lawyer would indeed encourage some sort of plea. A trial would not go well for her imo. A jury would be justifiably heart-broken hearing the pain of the family members left to deal with this unimaginable loss.