A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a girl “who died in a school bus fire” in Iowa. The suit itself was filed against the Riverside Community School District and alleges wrongful death and negligence. But what happened? Well, back on December 12, bus driver Donald Hendricks, 74, picked Megan Klindt, 16, up for school when the “bus backed into a ditch across from the girl’s home.” While trying to get out of the ditch, the bus caught fire.
A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of a girl “who died in a school bus fire” in Iowa. The suit itself was filed against the Riverside Community School District and alleges wrongful death and negligence. But what happened? Well, back on December 12, bus driver Donald Hendricks, 74, picked Megan Klindt, 16, up for school when the “bus backed into a ditch across from the girl’s home.” While trying to get out of the ditch, the bus caught fire.
According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the “fire on the bus started in the engine before spreading to the passenger area” where Hendricks and Klindt were. Seeing the fire, Klindt’s mother, Natalie Klindt, ran to help and saw Hendricks hanging out the window. She told him “to throw her daughter out of the bus, but Hendricks didn’t know where the girl was,” according to the report. In addition, the bus barn supervisor, Nick Bates, was notified of the fire, but instead of calling 911 he “drove to the scene with a fire extinguisher.” Unfortunately, both Hendricks and Klindt “died of burns and smoke inhalation.”
It’s important to note, however, that before the accident occurred, “Klindt had voiced concerns about Hendricks’ ability to drive safely,” and her father, Glen Klindt, said he “previously witnessed Hendricks fail to stop at a stop sign and nearly strike his vehicle.” Because of this, the family believes the school should have known that “Hendricks was in no condition to operate the bus,” which is one of the reasons why the family decided to file the lawsuit in the first place.
When commenting on the incident and lawsuit, the family’s attorney, Bradley Schroeder, said, “We can call attention to the issue, bring light to the negligence we think occurred and hopefully prevent this from happening again in the future.”
At the moment the Klindt’s are hoping the lawsuit, presided over by Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Susan Christensen, will be “settled by a jury trial.” A trial date has yet to be set.
So how has the school district responded to the lawsuit and accusations that they bear some responsibility for what happened? For starters, the district’s superintendent, Tim Mitchell, released a statement saying they “had not received a copy of the lawsuit as of Wednesday afternoon.” No further comment was given. What do you think? Should the district be held accountable for what happened?
Sources:
Family of girl killed in Iowa school bus fire files lawsuit
Iowa family files lawsuit against Riverside School District after daughter dies in bus fire
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