Baltimore police release 911 call recordings from deadly collision between school, commuter bus
BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Latest on a fatal crash involving a school bus and a commuter bus in Baltimore (all times local):
6:30 p.m.
Witnesses who called 911 after a two-bus crash expressed stunned disbelief at the scene on a busy Baltimore street.
Police on Wednesday released recordings of 911 calls from Tuesday's collision that killed six people. People can be heard yelling for an ambulance; others struggle to determine the location and estimate how many people were hurt.
At least two people initially called about a Mustang that was first hit by a school bus, only to then come upon the second impact scene, where the school bus had sheared off much of the driver's side of a Maryland Transit Administration bus.
One incredulous man describes the scene to the dispatcher, saying "The school bus has done crashed into -- what's that?" as he realizes the school bus has hit not just the car but the transit bus, as well.
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5:35 p.m.
The transportation company operating the school bus that crashed into a Baltimore commuter bus, killing six people, had part of its operating abilities suspended last year because of an administrative issue.
Tori Leonard, communications director for the Maryland Public Service Commission, said Wednesday that the commission suspended AA Affordable Transportation's ability to provide charter rides in October 2015.
Leonard says the suspension was issued because the company failed to submit its gross operating revenue in 2014, a portion of which should have been assessed and paid to the PSC. Leonard says that amount was "less than $24."
Because the PSC does not regulate bus companies' school service under state law, the suspension didn't affect the company's ability to provide student transportation.
Baltimore City Schools officials say the bus involved in the crash served 18 elementary students, but none was on the bus when the accident took place.
AA Affordable has not returned messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.
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5:25 p.m.
The Baltimore school bus driver who died along with five others when he crashed into a commuter bus lost a civil case stemming from another collision in 2008.
Court records show that Glenn Chappell was ordered to pay about $2,400 in the case filed by the other driver's insurance company.
Nationwide Insurance contended that Chappell's vehicle veered from the roadway and struck a parked car due to careless driving and excessive speed. Chappell's vehicle was described only as "a motor vehicle."
Court records show that Chappell agreed to pay the judgment in monthly installments of $150.
The insurance company's lawyer, Michael David Johnson, says the judgment was paid.
Chappell's school bus had no students aboard when it crashed into the commuter bus Tuesday.
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5 p.m.
The school bus company involved in crash that killed six people in Baltimore this week had a 2012 accident involving a bus, but city police say the bus driver in that case wasn't at fault.
According to the accident report from Oct. 16, 2012, the AA Affordable Transportation bus hit a minivan after the minivan ran a red light.
Seven students from the National Academy Foundation on the bus were injured, as well as both drivers and a pedestrian. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.
No children were on board Tuesday when an AA Affordable bus carrying a driver and an aide crashed into a car and a transit bus. The school bus driver, the transit bus driver and four transit bus passengers were killed, and 10 others were injured.
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4:30 p.m.
The Baltimore school bus driver who died along with five others when he crashed into a commuter bus had a history of traffic offenses and domestic disturbances.
Online court records show that 67-year-old Glenn Chappell was convicted last November of driving a vehicle with suspended registration.
He was convicted in 2014 of failing to show a registration card during a traffic stop.
Neither offense appears to involve a school bus.
The records also show that Chappell was convicted of violating three protective orders issued in 2012. He spent much of the fall of 2012 in jail awaiting judgment in those cases. In December 2012, he was sentenced to seven days for a second-degree assault conviction.
Chappell's employer, bus contractor AA Affordable Transportation, didn't immediately respond to calls and emails.
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4:30 p.m.
Cherry Yarborough called her mother every morning when she got to work at Maryland's Behavioral Health Administration. When Minnie Yarborough didn't hear from her daughter Tuesday morning -- "like a mother knows" -- she could tell something was wrong.
Minnie Yarborough said Wednesday that she began calling hospitals when she saw reports of a bus accident along her daughter's daily route. Later, she learned that her 51-year-old daughter was among the six people killed when a school bus smashed into a commuter bus.
Her mother says Yarborough, who loved sports, movies and puzzles, "truly loved her job" at the agency where she worked for nearly 30 years.
Steve Gondol, executive director for Live Baltimore, which promotes city living, says Yarborough also had been a fixture at its Buying in Baltimore events since 2008, greeting people at the registration table. Gondol says Yarborough enjoyed living in the city and wanted to make sure others benefited too.
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11 a.m.
Baltimore police are identifying five of the six people killed in a collision between a school bus and a commuter bus.
Spokesman T.J. Smith said in a statement Wednesday that the school bus driver was 67-year-old Glenn Chappell.
Police say there is no indication Chappell applied the brakes as his school bus hit a cemetery wall, a car and a roadside pillar before smashing into the side of a Maryland Transit Administration bus on Tuesday morning.
Police also identified 33-year-old commuter bus driver Ebonee Baker and three of her deceased passengers: 51-year-old Cherry Yarborough, 52-year-old Terance Casey and 51-year-old Gerald Holloway.
Smith says police haven't yet reached relatives of another deceased passenger, a 46-year-old woman.
He says three of the 10 people injured remain hospitalized, in fair, serious and critical condition.
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10:15 a.m.
A spokesman for the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration says a ripped seat was the only recorded defect uncovered in the department's last inspection of the school bus involved in a fatal crash in Baltimore.
Spokesman Buel Young said Wednesday that the bus last underwent an MVA inspection on Aug. 1 and no other issues were found.
Young told The Associated Press the bus was first placed into service on Aug. 22, 2014. He says it's his understanding that the bus was a 2015 model.
According to Young, buses are inspected by the MVA three times a year.
He says an inspection required by the Maryland State Department of Education was conducted later in August. A spokesman for that agency didn't immediately have details about the results of that inspection.
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9:45 a.m.
The commuter bus driver killed in a two-bus crash is being remembered as a mother who loved her family, the Baltimore Ravens, and Maryland crabs.
Deonne Perry has identified the bus driver as her sister, 33-year-old Ebonee Baker. She says Ebonee Baker always said she would be a teacher or a bus driver and she did everything she wanted to do, including having four children whose names all started with the letter T.
Ebonee Baker and the unidentified driver of a school bus were among the six people killed when the school bus smashed into the side of the commuter bus early Tuesday morning.
Perry says she and her sister both worked overnight and they last spoke about 3:45 a.m. Tuesday. While at work, Perry says she saw images of the crash on television but didn't suspect anything until she noticed a string of missed calls on her phone.
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9:30 a.m.
A Baltimore pastor says a member of his church was the commuter bus driver killed in a two-bus crash.
Rev. Donald Wright of Greater Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church in Baltimore says Ebonee Baker leaves behind a husband and four children. He says she made her family and children a priority.
Wright says Baker was friendly and funny and "thought she could fix any problem." "always went above and beyond, always wanted to do more and always wanted to shine."
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1:45 a.m.
Investigators hope an autopsy, a survivor and recording equipment will help explain why a school bus slammed into a commuter bus in Baltimore, killing six people.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the Tuesday morning crash that also left 10 people injured.
Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith says the 67-year-old school bus driver died, but a female aide who was the only other person aboard that bus survived with minor injuries.
The other people killed were on the Maryland Transit Administration bus, including the driver of that bus.
Smith says the state medical examiner's office may determine if the school bus driver suffered a medical emergency.
He says investigators have recovered recording equipment from one of the buses that may have video of the crash.