SANDY, Utah, Aug. 18, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A school bus driver with a history of crashes has been charged with negligent homicide following the January death of a Jordan High School student.
Gary Arden Rollins, 71, was involved in six minor accidents from 2018 to 2019 while driving buses for Canyons School District prior to the Jan. 27 crash that killed sophomore Jennifer Flores, 15, officials said.
Flores was in a crosswalk with an active walk signal at the intersection of 8375 South and State Street when she was hit and run over by the school bus, according to charges filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court.
The bus was stopped at a red light on Princeton Avenue while Rollins waited to turn left onto northbound State Street, charging documents state.
Flores was on the northeast corner of State Street and entered the crosswalk when directed by the signal, charges state.
Video from the bus indicates Rollins was looking at the “vehicles stopped at the red light that he must clear in order to make the lefthand turn” when he made the turn and hit Flores with the bus, according to charging documents.
The bus also ran over the girl with the driver’s side front and rear wheels, charges state.
“Witnesses yelled for [Rollins] to stop as he had hit someone and yelled for [him] to move the bus as [Flores] was partially trapped under the rear wheel,” according to the charges.
Rollins stopped and then released the brake, which caused the bus to roll backward off the girl, but “then proceeded to drive forward over [the girl] with his rear wheel for a third time,” charges state.
Flores was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Police say video also shows Rollins “holding a route map in his hands” and noted he “reviewed it multiple times during the drive,” including while stopped at the red light prior to the fatal accident.
Rollins told police he “heard a thump, and realized he had hit something but did not realize it was a child until witnesses started yelling,” charges state.
Rollins has been charged with negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor; and failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, an infraction.
Canyons School District officials said Rollins received “substantial training in his first year as a school bus driver.”
After earning his CDL, which is required to drive a school bus, Rollins participated in three additional training courses provided by the school district between August 2018 to October 2019, district officials said.
“During that time, he was involved in six minor accidents, which ranged from clipping a side mirror of another school bus to hitting a trailer hitch that was attached to a parked car. No physical injuries were reported, and no police citations were given in any of the incidents,” Canyons District said in a statement.
No other accidents were reported until the fatal January crash, district officials said.
Canyons School District has been working over the past six months to improve safety measures on its school buses, district officials said.
“Not only are bus drivers provided thorough and ongoing training, but a state-of-the-art GPS and Artificial Intelligence-powered safe-driving system has been installed on all 185 of Canyons buses,” the district statement continues.
“This $500,000 system can immediately detect if a driver is ill, injured or distracted, and within seconds will alert district officials if irregular driving patterns are detected. The new safety-driving system, coupled with regular training for bus drivers, add to the safety and security initiatives of Canyons District.”
Canyons School District officials said the bus was taking 16 Hillcrest High School students home when it was involved in the fatal accident. Some of the students observed the accident and were asked to provide witness statements to police, district officials said.
