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Texas Bus Driver Faces Manslaughter Charges

After a terrible bus crash last year that killed four people, the Texas bus driver faces manslaughter charges.  There isn’t enough evidence to charge him with negligent homicide, according to a prosecutor.

The bus driver, Felix Badillo Tapia, 29, of Brownsville, Texas, is facing four counts of manslaughter that each carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years and a $10,000 fine.  On Wednesday, November 19, 2008, prosecutors filed the amended charges before a court hearing.

The tragic bus crash occurred in Arkansas and under that state’s law, to file felony negligent homicide charges it is required to prove a person is intoxicated by alcohol or drugs in a motor vehicle accident.  If intoxication cannot be proven, the charges should be considered a misdemeanor.

According to Prosecutor Fletcher Long, the responding Arkansas State Police troopers and local police did not conduct a field sobriety test on Tapia after the bus accident on Interstate 40 in St. Francis County.  The officers could not remember whether Tapia had difficulty working or acted strangely after the crash.

Police investigation reports later showed that police officers discovered amphetamines in Tapia’s possession and witnesses said that he was talking on a cellular phone at the time of the crash.  Reports also show that Tapia claimed he lost consciousness and fell to the floor before the accident after sipping a soda.

Tapia was driving for the Tornado Bus Co. from Chicago to Dallas when the bus crossed over the median near Forrest City on November 25, 2007.  The bus crashed into a pickup truck and a tractor trailer, which killed three of the occupants in the bus and the pickup’s driver.  Over 20 people were injured in the crash.

The penalties for negligent homicide and manslaughter are the same in Arkansas, but prosecutors wanted to ensure that Tapia received the harsher charges.  Tapia is currently free under a $50,000 bond.

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