Driver Who Hit Bemidji School Bus Cited For Careless Driving
The driver of a car that hit a Bemidji school bus causing multiple injuries has been cited for careless driving.
According to Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp, Thomas Lee Nielson, 29, of Chattanooga, TN was given the citation after a sheriff’s deputy consulted with the County Attorney’s office.
Careless driving in Minnesota is classified as “any person who operates or halts any vehicle upon any street or highway carelessly or heedlessly in disregard of the rights of others, or in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger any property or any person, including the driver or passengers of the vehicle.” The charge is considered a misdemeanor, which is punishable by imprisonment of up to 90 days, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
Sheriff Hodapp says that there could be additional charges in the coming weeks as law enforcement finalize their investigation.
The school bus was traveling southbound on Irvine Avenue shortly before 8:00 AM. Nielsen, the driver of the passenger car, had been east bound on South Movil Lake Road and drove through the stop sign, striking the school bus in the right side, according to a press release.
This caused the school bus to lose control, swerving onto the shoulder and then rolling on its side in the ditch. Two children were pinned inside the bus and one had to be extricated by Bemidji Fire and Rescue.
Several students suffered minor injuries from the crash. Five who were obviously injured were transported by ground ambulance to the Emergency Department at Sanford and one was transferred by air ambulance.
The driver of the vehicle who struck the bus was also transported by ground ambulance to Sanford Medical in Bemidji.
A representative for Sanford Health said that anyone who gave permission for media organizations to know their condition status had been release from the medical center as of Wednesday night. There could be other people still at the hospital that were injured, but the hospital could not confirm that information due to confidentiality.
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Slap on the wrist. Would have been a different story if it would have been a Native driving the car and hit a bus load of white children. Our children are going to remember this for the rest of their lives, the trauma and injuries they suffered. My grandson cries in his sleep. I doubt there will be more charges.
Billie, that is a racist statement! Get your mind off yourself and onto what’s most important, people’s hearts!
Billie got a news flash for you. That bus had kids of SEVERAL races and colors! The man in question should and hopefully does get charged with more. I live on S movil. I helped at the scene, my sons bus was just a little in front of this bus, I had heard crash in my house and when I came up to it thought it was his. Even after I found out it wasn’t I still helped. Not a single person there was worried about anyone’s race or color. From direction he was going sun was in his eyes and yes there was some sun I walk my dog every morning at 6am and while he was in wrong going too fast on that road and driving thru stop sign and who knows what else he is human. Unless you were there wait till facts come out and don’t be so quick to pass judgement.
Yes I agree that was a totally racist charged statement that is completely not true in any way. People that bring this to a race issue are wrong. The issue here is it’s a big yellow school bus full of kids. It was an accident. Even tho it could havepossibly been prevented. I must thank everyone involved for the quick fast reaction to help in the situation. Given everything considered it was handled the best it could have been. Thankfully there was no loss of life. Now we should be looking at this whole situation and asking ourselves what can we suggest to handle this situation better if it ever happens again in the future. Could response teams change anything they did, could the hospital handle the situation any differently. Is there anything that could be done in any way that was not done this time. Fact is the bus company responded good, the school district handled things good, the hospital handled things good the emergency response teams handled things good.
This is not a situation we deal with on a regular basis. So in the end overall praise must be given to all those involved.