Truck driver paroled, sentenced to probation in fatal crash
A truck driver said he made a terrible mistake and asked for forgiveness before he was sentenced Tuesday for his role in a November 2021 crash that claimed the lives of a bus driver and a 14-year-old girl, whose death has left a hole in her family, according to her mother.
Under terms of a plea agreement, Karandeep Singh, 33, of Canada, was sentenced to 3 to 6 months in the Butler County Prison, 42 months of probation and to pay fines totaling $675 for the Nov. 2 crash on Interstate 79 in Muddy Creek Township in which bus driver Lindsay Thompkins, 31, of Aliquippa, and Brylee Walker, who was among the 13 students from Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Beaver County aboard the bus, were killed.
Singh’s sentence included a $300 fine for a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter, a concurrent 24 months of probation and a $150 fine for a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment, a $200 fine for a summary charge of reckless driving and a $25 fine for a summary charge of driving too slow for conditions.
He was paroled from the jail sentence.
Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Kubit imposed the sentence after Walker’s mother and a friend who was on the bus with her talked about the impact the girl’s death and the crash has had on them.
Sara Fusco-Walker said she and her two sons were waiting at a bus stop Nov. 2 for Brylee, her first child and only daughter, to arrive so she could take her to her guitar lesson.
After 20 minutes went by, she canceled the lesson and soon after that friends started sharing photos and posts over social media about a crash involving a bus.
On the drive to the crash site on Interstate 79 in Muddy Creek Township with her husband, Jason, she said she knew Brylee was dead. At the scene, she said police stopped Jason, as he was screaming, from approaching the bus.
“It’s been 1,365 days now, but it feels like yesterday,” Fusco-Walker said in her victim impact statement. “She’d be 18 today.”
She said life before the crash was different than it is today. Vacations and holidays feel incomplete without Brylee. She said she cries when she sees children who remind her of her daughter.
Fusco-Walker described Brylee as wise and funny, and she fears people will forget about her after Tuesday’s sentencing.
She told Singh she is not angry at him and forgives him.
Lex McCurdy, who was a 15-year-old classmate of Brylee’s and a passenger on the bus, said the guilt she has wondering why she survived the crash can be debilitating.
The flashbacks of the crash, that include images of Thompkins’ dead body, are stuck in her head, McCurdy, 19, said, weeping through her statement. She said she remembers being covered with broken glass following the crash.
Physically, she said she had a concussion and now has migraine headaches, but the emotional and mental toll, which includes post-traumatic stress disorder, are worse.
She said she has nightmares and is afraid every time she is in a vehicle. She said she delayed getting her driver’s license due to the crash, sometimes has difficulty driving and has spent a lot of time and money in therapy.
“I want my life back,” McCurdy said.
She said she forgives Singh and doesn’t want to bear the weight of holding a grudge against him.
“It’s too much. It’s too heavy,” McCurdy said.
Singh, whose wife and baby accompanied him, apologized for the crash.
“I made a terrible, terrible mistake that haunts me every single day,” Singh said.
He said he prays everyday for the Walker family to heal, and asked them to forgive him if they can.
The crash occurred on I-79 North about 700 to 800 feet after Singh merged onto the highway driving 18 mph in a 70 mph speed limit area due to engine problems. The bus struck the rear of the trailer Singh was pulling, according to testimony from a previous hearing in the case.
Singh had driven from Canada to South Carolina and was heading back to Canada when the crash took place. He had just reentered I-79 after stopping at the Pilot Travel Center truck stop before the crash.
Singh’s truck had multiple equipment violations, but none contributed to the crash, and state police determined that engine problems limited the speed the truck could drive.
A state police accident reconstruction expert said Thompkins did not have time to react and avoid hitting the trailer.
