A Tampa Bay, Florida, school bus driver’s employment was terminated after the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office charged him with careless driving for speeding, losing control of the bus and crashing into a murky, alligator-filled pond. Neither the students nor the driver were seriously injured.
The crash occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time on Sept. 18, when a Sheriff’s Office spokesman Major Chad Chronister said the bus left the road, crashed through a guard shack next to the pond and overturned in the water. Other motorists stopped and helped all 32 elementary school students on board to safety, with several of the same students helping in the rescue efforts. Three Sheriff’s deputies, the first emergency personnel to arrive on scene, also jumped into the water, even diving below submerged seats to ensure no one was trapped. A district spokeswoman added that the bus was not equipped with seat belts.
Both the Sheriff’s Office and the school district pointed out that bus driver Lenoir Sainfimin, 50, remained on the bus to search for students until all were accounted for. During a Monday press conference, Chronister said he personally believed that anyone who remained in the water to search for students, no matter who was at fault, should be considered a hero.
“When we originally got the call, the driver was unaccounted for so there was concern,” added district spokeswoman Tanya Arja. “But then we realized the bus driver was still on the bus (looking for students). The superintendent pointed out that despite everything that went wrong, (Sainfimin) did some remarkable things that day.”
Despite this, an “exhaustive” independent investigation for the Sheriff’s Office determined that Sainfimin was traveling 48 mph in a 35 mph zone when the 1995 Thomas Built Buses school bus approached a curve in the roadway. Sainfimin was traveling too fast and attempted to brake and maintain control of the bus, but investigators determined he was actually depressing the accelerator despite his repeated assertions after the fact that vehicle would not respond to his attempt to brake.
“Parents should rest assured we left no stone unturned in this investigation,” Chronister said. “The driver’s actions, his mistakes and his decision were careless.”
Chad Chronister added that investigators determined the brakes were not defective and the bus was in good operating condition. They also pulled GPS data from the bus to determine the last recorded speed before the crash, Chronister said and onboard video contained audio of the engine revving through the crash. This indicated to investigators that Sainfimin was in fact depressing the accelerator as he tried to brake.
“He panicked and this is the result,” he explained.
Chronister said a previous careless driving charge on Sainfimin’s record had no bearing on the investigation and resulting citation related to the Sept. 18 crash. Hillsborough County School District’s Arja confirmed said Sainfimin, who was hired on Aug. 24, disclosed the previous careless driving charge on his application. He last drove for D.C. Public Schools but the citation was apparently tied to his personal vehicle, as she said the record was tied to a Maryland motor vehicle registration.
