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PUBLISHED: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Bus driver disciplined for crash



A Sandusky school bus driver has been disciplined for the January bus-car accident that put a teenager in the hospital for months.

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Ronald Webb Jr., 44, of Sandusky has been suspended without pay for 30 days, through the last day of school on June 5, said Superintendent Martha Essenmacher.

Essenmacher took the administrative action after consulting with the board of education during a closed session last week.

Essenmacher said the decision was reached after the district received "all the reports from the state police, the (accident) reconstruction, the lights, all the reports."

She also consulted with school district's legal counsel.

Essenmacher added, "He (Webb) will report back to work when the new school year starts."

Webb was ticketed last month, following a lengthy police investigation. County Prosecutor James Young determined that Webb would be cited for failing to stop the bus in an assured clear distance, after the accident reconstruction report showed no evidence for a charge of felonious driving.

"It was my decision and the board's to follow due process, and considering all the evidence in place the reasonable action was to suspend him (for a month)," said Essenmacher. "Thirty days was a significant consequence in light of the serious nature of the accident."

Webb had been on paid administrative leave pending the results of the police investigation.

The accident occurred Jan. 24 on French Line Road just west of Town Line road in Elmer Township, when the school bus struck the back of an eastbound car driven by George Riggs, 79, of Sandusky. Riggs had slowed the car to turn north onto Town Line.

Investigators were unable to determine if any of the car's tail-lights for the brakes and turn signals were in operation, according to Young. Webb told officers the car was speeding up and slowing down prior to the crash.

The impact from the collision caused the car to collide with a ditch.

Riggs' 16-year-old grandson, Bradley Riggs, who was in the backseat of the car, is still hospitalized at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. He was listed in fair condition on Monday.





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