An adult woman and five children were waiting for Sam Floyd’s school bus early one morning. When he stopped, with lights flashing and stop arm extended, the kids started to board. Then with two children and the woman still outside the bus, a white Dodge Ram came from behind and didn’t stop. It went around the bus on the right-hand side. There were no injuries, but the pickup truck driver will be charged with reckless driving.

Andrew Vence Canada, 46, of Jasonville, is facing a charge of reckless driving passing a school bus, a Class A misdemeanor.

School bus driver Samuel Floyd of Worthington was operating a 2016 Blue Bird school bus on State Road 48 west of Worthington early Thursday, August 8. Floyd, a long-time experienced bus driver for White River Valley Schools, was eastbound on the highway, approaching County Road 700 West. The incident occurred at 7041 East SR 48, Worthington. This location, at a private drive, is a routine stop for Floyd.

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy James Carpenter, the investigating officer for this case, said Floyd provided a written statement about the incident. In his statement, Floyd said as he approached the stop, he activated his yellow caution lights and then once stopped, he cracked the door which activated his red lights and the stop arm.

Floyd said there was a large trash truck approaching from the opposite direction and it came to a stop.

Floyd explained there was an adult woman standing and waiting at the stop with five children and as the children started to board the bus, he heard a loud banging noise then saw a white truck pulling a trailer pass his bus on the right-hand side.

Floyd said the truck was going through a yard/ditch “just barely missing the children boarding” and the woman and younger child still outside the bus.

According to the bus driver, the truck did come to a stop after this happened and the driver, later identified as Canada, got out of the truck and walked around for a second then continued on east toward Worthington. He said the driver did not approach the bus to ask if everyone was “ok” or check on anything.

Although Floyd’s bus is not equipped with a video camera mounted on the exterior of the bus, it was equipped with one mounted inside the bus, and Deputy Carpenter said it did record this incident.

After Deputy Carpenter reviewed the video from the bus, he reported it shows the school bus came to a complete stop at 6:53:15 a.m.

“At 6:53:21, the first child steps onto the bus,” wrote Deputy Carpenter. “At 6:53:31, the white pickup enters into the camera view and at 6:53:32, the pickup swerves to the right and you hear the squeal of tires. At this time, there is still one student standing outside the bus, and the adult female, and a female child. The other children were still standing on the stairs waiting to get a seat. The video shows the white pickup missing the mailbox and crossing the driveway.”

After this incident occurred, the bus driver notified WRV School Resource Officer Ron Sparks, then Worthington Town Marshal Randy Raney was notified by Sparks to be on the lookout for a white Dodge pickup pulling a trailer headed toward Worthington.

Chief Raney spotted the truck and initiated a stop east of Worthington on State Road 157.

Canada was identified as the driver and when asked about passing the school bus on the right, Canada allegedly said he was looking down and talking to his mother on the phone because his father was being transported to a hospital by ambulance. Raney reported Canada said he looked up, saw the school bus stopped in front of him and veered right off the roadway to avoid hitting the bus. Canada allegedly admitted the red flashing lights were activated at the time.

By 8:10 a.m. on the morning of the incident., Deputy Carpenter was meeting with Chief Raney and WRV Officer Ron Sparks.

By 8:55 a.m., Deputy Carpenter had arrived on the scene of the incident to take photographs. He reported there were tire marks through the grass, with the tracks running off the highway through the yard, passing the mailbox by approximately 16 inches, going over a culvert, through a driveway then stopping in the yard east of the driveway.

Following the investigation, the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office filed a case against Canada yesterday, Wednesday, August 14. A summons was issued ordering Canada to appear for an initial hearing on September 30 in Greene Superior Court.