Current:Home > MyA school bus is set on fire with kids inside. An ex-Utah bus driver is now being charged.-LoTradeCoin
A school bus is set on fire with kids inside. An ex-Utah bus driver is now being charged.
View Date:2024-12-23 16:52:02
A former school bus driver in Utah was ordered to remain behind bars with no bail on Friday after he was accused of setting a school bus on fire on two occasions including one that that had children on board at the time.
The Department of Justice said a federal magistrate judge ordered that Michael Austin Ford, 58, of West Valley City, Utah be detained until trial. In her detention order, which was reviewed by USA TODAY, Magistrate Judge Cecilia M. Romero said Ford posed a high danger "to the entire community."
A federal grand jury indicted Ford on Feb. 21, 2024, on two counts of arson of a vehicle of an organization receiving federal funds.
Ford only stopped bus when kids complained of smoke from fire: Court docs
According to court documents, Ford set fire to buses on Feb. 24, 2022, and April 7, 2023, while working as a bus driver for the Lake City’s Granite School District.
Prosecutors said in the 2022 incident, Ford was driving a bus that had 42 children inside when he used an ignition device to start a fire. He allegedly kept driving even as flames grew under the dashboard and smoke blew past him towards the back where the kids were seated.
"Undeterred by the smoke, the Defendant only stops the bus when children are seen and heard on video coughing, covering their faces, and complaining about smoke," prosecutors said in court filings.
In April 2023, Ford again set a bus on fire and continued to drive through traffic even as smoke blew past him, prosecutors said. In court filings, prosecutors said Ford attempted to tamper with the bus surveillance system in the days before the fire.
Both incidents were captured on video. He was arrested by Granite School Police and questioned about the incident, days after the 2023 incident but was then released, officials said.
Arson:Former professor pleads guilty to setting blazes behind massive 2021 Dixie Fire
Ford acknowledged involvement in 3 previous fires
Court filings also showed that while the arson incidents were being investigated by local authorities in October 2023, fires broke out in Ford's home and personal car. Ford also "acknowledged to investigators his involvement in three prior bus fires for busses he was driving." Those incidents occurred in 2017, 2016, and around 2001 or 2002.
Ford has a jury trial scheduled for April 29, 2024 in Salt Lake City.
veryGood! (678)
Related
- Suspected shooter and four others are found dead in three Kansas homes, police say
- NASA confirms mystery object that crashed through roof of Florida home came from space station
- Officer's silent walks with student inspires Massachusetts community
- Cold case: 1968 slaying of Florida milkman, WWII vet solved after suspect ID’d, authorities say
- Lions find way to win, Bears in tough spot: Best (and worst) from NFL Week 10
- U.S. Olympic leader praises Caitlin Clark's impact, talks potential Olympic spot
- Supreme Court to examine federal obstruction law used to prosecute Trump and Jan. 6 rioters
- Gossip TikToker Kyle Marisa Roth Dead at 36
- Special counsel Smith asks court to pause appeal seeking to revive Trump’s classified documents case
- Caitlin Clark is best thing to happen to WNBA. Why are some players so frosty toward her?
Ranking
- Week 10 fantasy football rankings: PPR, half-PPR and standard leagues
- The Ultimatum’s Ryann Taylor Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With James Morris
- He didn't want her to have the baby. So he poisoned their newborn's bottle with antifreeze.
- 2025 Kia K4 Sedan first look: Introducing Kia’s all-new small, cheap car
- Just Eat Takeaway sells Grubhub for $650 million, just 3 years after buying the app for $7.3 billion
- Federal law enforcement investigating Baltimore bridge collapse, sources say
- Body found in burned car may be connected to 'bold' carjacking in Florida, officials say
- Brian Austin Green Shares His One Rule for Co-Parenting With Megan Fox
Recommendation
-
The Daily Money: All about 'Doge.'
-
Trump trial gets underway today as jury selection begins in historic New York case
-
Maine is the latest to join an interstate compact to elect the president by popular vote
-
Writers Guild Awards roasts studios after strike, celebrates 'the power of workers'
-
Research reveals China has built prototype nuclear reactor to power aircraft carrier
-
Several gun bills inspired by mass shooting are headed for final passage in Maine
-
Caitlin Clark taken No. 1 in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, as expected
-
What to know about the prison sentence for a movie armorer in a fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin