A Perkiomen bus driver lied to authorities about the accident that took the life of one man, injured another and endangered more than 40 children, says the Montgomery County D.A.
Fredrick Poust III, 38, was charged Monday with homicide by vehicle and almost a dozen counts of failure to stop at a stop sign in connection with an accident outside Perkiomen Middle School West on February 17, authorities said.
Poust was making a turn into the school around 7:30 a.m. when the bus collided with a Honda Civic. Richard Taylor, 27, a passenger in the car, was killed and the driver, Freddy Carol, 41, was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries. Five children on the bus also suffered minor injuries.
After the crash, Poust told authorities he slowed to make the turn when the Civic rammed into the bus.
But newly-released surveillance video from on-board the bus depicts a very different story.
The bus driver not only didn’t slow or stop before turning into the school, but also was caught blowing 10 stop signs along his route that day, according to investigators.
“Clearly here we have video evidence to show that that is a lie,” Montco D.A. Risa Vetri-Ferman said.
In the video, you can see the bus turn in front of the Civic as it traveled at normal speed.
“This is a man who, based upon the evidence concluded, was driving as if the rules of the road simply did not apply to him,” Vetri-Ferman said.
After his arrest, Poust told authorities he was tired from staying awake more than 24 hours before the accident.
The deadly crash in February wasn’t the man’s first. Poust was cited with reckless driving after he blew a stop sign in 1999 and hit a van carrying a woman and her 2-year-old daughter.
The little girl, Morgan Lee Pena, was killed in the crash. Investigators found Poust was distracted after texting while driving.
The bus company who operates the Perkiomen School District routes says the details of Poust’s 1999 accident didn’t appear on their background check since it happened more than five years before.
“It is impossible to think that someone who had taken the life of a child could be so reckless on this particular day, carrying more children,” Vetri-Ferman said.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 22.
VIA NBC PHILADELPHIA
