Driver cited for Loudon Co. bus crash that injured students

Driver cited for Loudon Co. bus crash that injured students

LENOIR CITY (WATE) -- A Loudon County school bus driver has been cited for crashing into a utility pole Wednesday morning, leaving seven students with minor injuries.

Bus 34 was driven by Gary Keener, who works for a contractor named Bonnie Myers.

Troopers say the crash happened around 8:15 a.m. near 14311 Northshore Drive.

There were 22 students on board the bus, believed to be on its way to North Middle School when it crashed.

Troopers didn't find any mechanical errors on the bus that has since been taken to Money Makers Wrecker Service.

Keener was cited for failure to maintain lane control and for not wearing a seatbelt.

"It appears he was going a little to fast for the curve he was going into. Whether he had looked back, we don't know. He simply stated he was disciplining a child," says Carey Hixson, a trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Hixson says Keener told him he was distracted by a student on board and that's why he side-swiped a utility pole.

At one point, Hixson says Keener wasn't even at the wheel. He had been thrown from his seat and was lying on the floor.

Seven children on board were taken to a hospital for minor injuries. They had cuts and bruises and one had a knot on the head.

A parent of two on board, who wants to remain anonymous, says she's fed up.

She sent 6 News an email saying among other things, there seems to be an unusually high number of incidents involving Loudon County school bus drivers.

Her children say Keener is a very fast, possibly aggressive driver, and they claim he wasn't  distracted by a student.

Camera equipment is installed in this bus and every other bus in the county, but Trooper Hixson says there wasn't a memory card in the recorder at the time of the accident. He says school officials had removed it to investigate a prior incident.

"What I'm trying to do now is determine why a replacement card was not inserted. So obviously, I'm upset," says Loudon County Schools Assistant Superintendent Gil Luttrell.

Still, Luttrell says Keener, who's been suspended pending the outcome of the school's investigation, is one of their best drivers.

Keener has no recent traffic violations.