Charges dropped in fatal Claiborne school bus wreck
Published 12:00 am Friday, February 9, 2001
[02/09/01] The Claiborne County bus driver at the wheel in a fatal accident in November will not be prosecuted, District Attorney Gil Martin said.
Thursday, Martin, the district attorney for the 9th Circuit Court District but appointed to handle the case, said the vehicular manslaughter charge against 56-year-old Freddie Martin would be dropped.
“After a review of the evidence I have concluded that the facts in this case would not support an indictment nor a guilty verdict by a jury on a charge of culpable negligence homicide,” Martin said in a written statement.
The driver was arrested Nov. 13 and charged with vehicular manslaughter in the death of 6-year-old kindergartner Ryan Shala.
He had dropped Ryan off at about 3:30 p.m. that Monday, and when the child walked back in front of the bus, he was hit and killed.
Under Mississippi law, a manslaughter conviction is possible if there has been gross negligence or recklessness that resulted in a death.
Martin, who investigated after Claiborne County DA Alexander Martin recused himself, said the case was investigated by the Port Gibson Police Department, his office and the Mississippi Crime Lab.
“There was no evidence of speeding, alcohol use or other factors,” Gil Martin said.
The Claiborne County DA is a first cousin to Freddie Martin. The DA from Vicksburg, also named Martin, is not related to either man.
On the day of the fatality, Freddie Martin told police he didn’t realize he had hit the child until a student on the bus told him. He reportedly pulled the bus away from the scene, stopping at a point where the accident scene was out of the children’s vision. He had driven a bus for the Claiborne County School District for two years.