It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since a tragic accident involving a school bus and dump truck took two lives on Route 80 in Morris County. I still remember all of us here at the radio station stopped what we were doing to find out more about what had happened. Several school buses carrying children from Paramus were on a field trip to Waterloo Village on May 17, 2018. One of the buses driven by 77 year old Hurdy Muldrow missed the exit for Route 206. A few miles west on Route 80 Mulrdow attempted to make a U-turn across the median using a lane reserved for police and emergency vehicles only. As he turned onto the east bound lanes of route 80 the school bus crossed over 3 lanes of the highway. A dump truck in one of those lanes could not stop and slammed into the school bus. The impact of the crash separated the bus cab from the chassis and flipped the bus on it's side. Teacher Jennifer Williamson and 10 year old 5th grader Miranda Vargas were killed. Muldrow and 40 of his young passengers on the bus were injured. Yesterday, Muldrow sat in a Morristown Courtroom as victim impact statements were read before Judge Stephen Taylor. Muldrow's son asked the judge for mercy because his father "has never done anything on purpose to hurt anyone ever." After many hours of statement from victims, Judge Taylor sentenced Muldrow to 10 years in state prison saying "I'm sentencing Mr. Muldrow for an extreme act of recklessness that caused significant, significant harm to so many individuals." Muldrow who is now 79, will have to serve a minimum of 5 years and 9 months before he can be paroled. Before the accident Muldrow's driving record showed his license had been suspended 14 times and that he had received 8 speeding tickets. As a parent, I will never be able to accept how someone with that kind of driving record could be allowed to drive a school bus full of innocent children.
Source: NJ.COM