An Indiana man driving on a suspended license ran a stop sign and crashed into a school bus, causing the death of one of his child passengers, reports the NWI Times.
Christopher Waiters, 27, was driving his six-year-old son Malachi to Ready Elementary School on Thursday morning, according to George Jerome, operations manager and director of finance for the school. Police said Waiters drove through a stop sign and collided with a Gary Community School Corporation’s school bus, and that the incident was witnessed by a Lake County officer on patrol.
Malachi was taken to the Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus, where the coroner’s office said he died at 8:41 a.m. from blunt force trauma. Another juvenile passenger in the car suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and was taken to Munster Community Hospital.
The two school employees and three students on the Gary Community school bus were unhurt, said school officials.
Dan Murchek, the Lake County Sherriff’s office deputy police chief, said the investigation so far shows that alcohol, speed and traffic offenses all played a part in the crash. Waiters, who was driving on a suspended license and had an outstanding warrant for previously committing the same offense, was arrested on probable cause of “causing death while operating (a) vehicle,” said the NWI Times.
Gary Community officials said they would continue working with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department Traffic Crash Reconstruction, which is moving forward with the investigation.
Update on August 23, 2017
Waiters is out of jail on bond and his blood alcohol level test results are expected from the Indiana Department of Toxicology in three to six weeks, Murchek told STN. At that time, charges may be brought against Waiters.
