Overview
- The Sumter County school bus, clipped by a freight train in Bushnell on April 2, carried 29 students and an aide, and no injuries were reported.
- Driver Yvonne Hampton faces 29 felony counts of child neglect along with related misdemeanor charges based on an arrest report and interior bus video.
- A judge set bond at $1,000 per student for the felony counts plus additional misdemeanor bonds, and ordered no contact with bus occupants and no bus driving while the case proceeds.
- The school district fired Hampton and removed the East Central Avenue crossing from bus routes, citing the lack of red traffic lights and tight space beyond the tracks.
- Superintendent Logan Brown said the train conductor blasted the horn and tried to brake, praised him as a hero, and began a broader review of safety measures.