A former Tennessee bus driver was convicted on Thursday of six counts of criminally negligent homicide after a fatal crash that killed six children.
Johnthony Walker, 25, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, was driving 37 children between the ages of six and 10 when the bus flipped over and crashed into a tree.
During trial, prosecutors argued Walker was driving at least 20 miles over the speed limit and was using his cell phone.
Walker was charged with vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and using his cell phone.
Johnthony Walker, 25, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, was driving 37 school children on Nov. 21, 2018 when he flipped and crashed the bus into a tree. Pictured is Walker testifying on Wednesday. He was found guilty by a jury on Thursday
Prosecutors said Walker was going more than 20 miles over the speed limit and using his phone when he crashed the bus. Six elementary school children died in the crash
Walker claimed he was not using his cell phone. But evidence showed a four minute phone call that Walker made before the 911 call right after the crash
On Nov. 21, 2018, Walker was driving a bus full of children from Woodmore Elementary School in Tennessee when the bus flipped killing six children.
Prosecutor Crystle Carrion said Johnthony Walker, 25, was doing 50mph on a narrow, winding Chattanooga road when the bus ran off the pavement, hit a pole, and then flipped the bus into a walnut tree on November 21, 2016.
‘It all could have been avoided if Johnthony Walker would have just slowed down and gone the speed limit and stayed off his phone,’ Carrion said in opening statements.
Walker was found guilty of 34 charges, including six for vehicular homicide because of the children who died in the crash.
Also among the dead were Keonte Wilson, eight (left) and Zyanna Harris, ten (right)
D’Myunn Brown, six (left) and Cor’Dayja Jones, nine (right) were among the deceased kids
Zoie Nash, nine (left) and Zyaira Mateen, six (right) lost their lives in the wreck
The former bus driver said on Wednesday before he was found guilty that he was only going 35mph around the curve and was not on the phone.
The wreck claimed the lives of D’Myunn Brown, six; Zyaira Mateen, six; Zyanna Harris, ten; Keonte Wilson, eight; Cor’Dayja Jones, nine, and Zoie Nash, nine.
Prosecutors said during a pre-trial hearing last year that Walker received a call at 3.17pm that lasted almost four minutes. The first 911 call about the crash came in at 3.20pm.
Walker was charged with vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and using the phone. He will be sentenced in court on April 24
The 25-year-old lost control of the bus after it went around a corner. He claimed he was not on the phone, but prosecutors said he was using it
But witness Takeisha Nixon said from the stand on Tuesday that she was not on the phone with the driver when the crash happened, arguing that their conversation was much shorter than 4 minutes, contrary to the prosecution’s version of events.
Nixon, who worked with Walker at his second job, told the court she called Walker on November 21 and asked if he was driving. He said, ‘Yes.’ She told him, ‘Drive carefully,’ and hung up.
Jurors began deliberating on Wednesday before they found Walker guilty the next day.
He will attend his sentencing hearing on April 24.