Lawsuit Filed Following Fatal School Bus Wreck

MOUNT PLEASANT — The parents of five of the 18 students who survived a 3-vehicle accident involving a Mount Pleasant school bus have filed a lawsuit in Titus County. They’re asking for 25 million dollars. According to KETK, the March 24th accident reportedly happened when an 18-wheeler, owned by Rooney Trucking, sideswiped the bus. The bus was traveling back to the school after a track meet in Paris. The lawsuit claims the trucking company was responsible for its employee, Bradley Ray Farmer, Bogard, Missouri, who was driving the truck that “recklessly veered across the highway while operating an 18-wheeler truck into the bus’s lane, sideswiping the driver’s side of the bus and causing it to spin out of control.” Farmer died of his injuries.

The lawsuit seeks damages for “sustained physical, mental and post traumatic stress.” In addition to the school bus, the truck also sideswiped a car driven by the team’s assistant coach, Angelica Beard, who died of her injuries. Coach Van Bowen was driving the bus and was critically injured.