Montco School Bus Driver Sentenced For 2010 Fatal Crash
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) - A Montgomery County, Pa. man who ignited a national debate more than a decade ago about cell phone use while driving will spend at least a year behind bars for causing a deadly crash last year while driving a school bus loaded with children.
The judge today sentenced Frederick Poust III to one to two years in jail followed by five years' probation after the 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to charges of vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment.
The Schwenksville, Pa. man admitted he was negligent when he turned into the path of oncoming traffic in front of the Perkiomen Valley Middle School last year, hitting a car and killing the passenger, Richard "Trip" Taylor (see previous story).
"I don't think any sentence would have been long enough," said Taylor's mother, Shirley Johnson, after the sentencing. "Nothing's going to bring back Trip. But I respect the judge's decision, and we just go from there."
Onboard video shows Poust rolling through stop signs while talking on the cell phone and listening to loud music.
More than a decade ago, the same man had killed a two-year-old girl in Bucks County when he ran a stop sign while dialing a phone. He was not criminally charged in that accident.
Reported by Brad Segall, KYW Newsradio 1060
