Mars Area parents sue bus company over crash
The parents of a Mars Area School District student are claiming a bus company was negligent by allowing a man involved in a number of previous accidents to operate a bus that crashed head-on into a tree in March and left their daughter with a concussion.
Mackensie and Garrett Waldschmidt, of Mars, filed the suit last week in Butler County Common Pleas Court on behalf of their daughter, a minor identified, against Kittanning-based A.J. Myers and Sons.
The girl was among seven students injured around 8:30 a.m. March 6 when, according to the suit, the bus driven in the 1600 block of Three degree Road in Adams Township by William Miller crossed the oncoming traffic lane and hit a tree off the side of the road.
All seven students and Miller were taken to hospitals after the crash. Miller later died.
The parents of the six other students filed a similar negligence suit in April against Myers and the school district. That case remains active.
According to the Waldschmidt’s suit, the girl was unconscious when she was removed from the bus and taken to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and has experienced concussion and emotional symptoms requiring health care treatment since the crash.
The suit argued that Miller’s driving history while employed by A.J. Myers demonstrates unsafe and dangerous driving practices and lists three times when he struck signs and mailboxes and an incident in which he caused a rear-end collision with another bus between May 10, 2023 and February 2025.
“A.J. Myers knew of Mr. Miller’s pattern of dangerous driving, yet, without any action to promote the safety of or otherwise protect the student passengers with whom they had been entrusted, A.J. Myers carelessly, recklessly and/or knowingly allowed Mr. Miller to continue operation of a school bus and, in doing so, placed these same students at significant and unreasonable risk of harm,” according to the suit.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed by attorney Ernest Pribanic.
A representative of A.J. Myers declined to comment on the suit Tuesday.
