Driver in football bus crash that killed 4 had previous speeding tickets, accident

The driver of the bus who was among four people killed in a September crash carrying a football team from Rock Hill where dozens more were injured had three moving violations and an accident in the five years before the fatal crash, S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles records show.

The bus driver, Brian Andre Kirkpatrick, 43, had other driving citations for speeding dating to 1998, online and court records show. Additionally, a lawsuit filed Monday alleges that the Ramah Juco Academy team chartered the bus from Sandy River Baptist Church and its parent organization.

Kirkpatrick, a Chester resident and a member at Sandy River Baptist Church, held a commercial Class B driver’s license in South Carolina, the collision report shows.

A pair of Clinton College students who were players and an 8-year-old son of a coach also died in the Sept. 17 crash.

Kirkpatrick had convictions for speeding in June and November 2011, DMV records show. He also had a conviction for driving too fast for conditions in June 2012, and a reportable accident in June 2012, the DMV records show.

Kirkpatrick had no criminal convictions in South Carolina, according to State Law Enforcement Division records.

In York County, Kirkpatrick had convictions for speeding in 1998 and 2000, court records show. He also had a citation for exceeding posted bridge weight and failure to wear a seat belt, according to court records.

No criminal charges were filed by police in the crash. The N.C. State Highway Patrol’s collision report from the crash estimated the bus was traveling 65 mph in a 70 mph zone.

The Herald reported Monday that a dozen survivors of the crash, including the coach who chartered the bus owned by Sandy River Baptist Church of Chester, filed a lawsuit Monday against the church and its parent church organization, claiming faulty maintenance of the bus and tire that troopers say blew out to cause the crash.

The lawsuit claims that the team chartered the bus for the trip, but the church did not have a for-hire designation, federal records show, meaning it was not required to meet the same inspection and safety requirements that for-hire passenger coaches must adhere to.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Driver in football bus crash that killed 4 had previous speeding tickets, accident."