BALTIMORE _ A class-action lawsuit seeking more than $10 million has been filed on behalf of the victims of a deadly bus crash that occurred last fall in Southwest Baltimore, alleging the driver was wrongly cleared to work despite previous crashes and health problems.
A school bus driven by Glenn Chappell, 67, rear-ended a Ford Mustang before crossing into oncoming traffic and striking a Maryland Transit Administration bus. The Nov. 1 crash killed the driver and four passengers on the MTA bus, as well as Chappell.
Another 11 people were injured, including passengers on the MTA bus, a teacher aide on the school bus and the driver of the Ford Mustang. No students were on the school bus at the time of the crash.
The lawsuit alleges that the health care company Concentra, which provides commercial driver certifications, "knew or should have known that Chappell had suffered multiple seizures in the past and had been involved in at least four crashes or incidents while operating a school bus or a personal vehicle where he had lost consciousness from a seizure when it cleared Chappell to drive commercial vehicles."
Also named as defendants are AAAfordable Transportation, which employed Chappell, and its owners and operators, Tracy and Aliyu Dabo.
"It is beyond unbelievable that Concentra and AAAfordable put this man behind the wheel and that they certified him to drive buses full of disabled children," said attorney Hassan Murphy, a managing partner at Murphy, Falcon & Murphy. "It makes us all angry that they gave this man keys to a school bus, endangering the children he carried and all of us that he encountered, despite his clear history of having seizures while operating vehicles."
"Concentra and AAAfordable must be brought to justice for their recklessness," said Jonathan Schochor, senior managing partner of Schochor, Federico & Staton. "This class-action suit is the most efficient and expedient way to help bring closure to the families and justice for those injured."
Concentra and officials with AAAfordable could not be immediately reached for comment.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported last month that Baltimore school officials had been alerted for years to crashes involving Chappell and to criminal charges against him, yet did not disqualify him from transporting students. The investigators identified several "deficiencies" in the way Baltimore City Public Schools and Maryland school officials vet school bus operators and urged reforms.
A December NTSB report offering a preliminary assessment of the crash revealed that Chappell had stopped responding to a school aide in the moments before the crash. He had a history of seizures, as well as of diabetes and hypertension _ all conditions that should have disqualified him from operating a commercial vehicle under state and federal law, according to that report.
Doctors had repeatedly cleared Chappell to drive under a federal system designed to keep drivers with certain risky health conditions from operating passenger vehicles. Drivers are required to sign documents under penalty of perjury that detail their medical histories before they undergo the health exams at least once every two years.
