School bus driver Kari Chopper died Sunday after crashing into a concrete pillar at Denver International Airport. She was transporting members of the Legacy High School varsity and junior varsity football teams that had just arrived from a Friday game in California.
Adams 12 Five Star Schools confirmed that Chopper, 43, had worked for the school district for the past four years as a school bus driver. She passed her last Department of Transportation physical on May 10 of this year.
“While we have 50-plus schools in our district, the relationships between staff, students and parents extend beyond school walls,” wrote Adams 12 Superintendent Chris Gdowski in an open letter Monday on the district website. “We collectively offer our condolences to the family of Kari Chopper, the bus driver who died in yesterday’s accident. The family and our transportation staff need your continued thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”
Twenty-eight students were on the bus at the time, along with several coaches. Officials at Adams 12 also confirmed that three football coaches, including varsity head coach Wayne Voorhees, suffered “significant injuries,” and are still being treated at a local hospital as of this report. A local media report indicated those injuries include broken bones and fractured skulls.
The roughly 20 other student-athletes who had been hospitalized for minor injuries were released to their parents by Monday afternoon.
A GoFundMe page was posted online to assist Chopper’s family. She is survived by her husband, four children and a grandchild.
The district also said members of its crisis team were available at the transportation center and at Legacy High School.
Gdowski said the Denver Police Department continues its investigation into the crash, and the district will assist in any way possible. Media reports indicated Tuesday that police said Chopper had already picked up the students when she turned the bus around to head back to the airport just prior to the crash.
