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Chattanooga school bus driver indicted on 6 vehicular homicide charges

Posted at 7:28 PM, Mar 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-08 22:28:13-05
(CNN) -- Johnthony Walker, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, school bus driver who was involved in a fatal bus crash last year that killed six children, was indicted Wednesday on charges including six counts of vehicular homicide.
 
Walker also faces four counts of reckless aggravated assault, one count of reckless endangerment, one count of reckless driving and one count of use of a portable device by a bus driver.
 
He will be arraigned March 24, the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office said.
 
Police have said Walker was driving well over the 30 mph speed limit when the No. 366 school bus swerved off a street, toppled on its side and slammed into a tree on November 21.
 
The bus was carrying 37 students from Woodmore Elementary School in Chattanooga.
 
Six children -- aged 6 to 10 -- died after the crash. More than a dozen others were injured.
 
Walker's mother, Gwenevere Cook, said in November that her son was a respected man and the father of a 3-year-old son.
 
"He is a marvelous son. For two years he worked two jobs. He's never been in trouble before," Cook said.
 
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