Woman sentenced for fatal bus-passing accident

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — A woman was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison and 14 years of probation for striking and killing a 17-year-old girl after she disembarked her school bus, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

As previously reported, the accident in December occurred in the evening as Brandy Hart was returning from an after-school event. The bus was stopped with its red lights flashing and its stop arm extended.

Shirley McManners, the motorist who struck Hart, told the news source that on the night of the accident, she was overwhelmed by the weather conditions (it had been raining) and didn’t realize she hit Hart even after her windshield was shattered by the collision. Hart was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that last month, McManners pled guilty to a charge of vehicular homicide and apologized to Hart’s family, saying that she takes full responsibility and that she didn’t mean to cause Hart’s death.   

To read the full story, click here.

Other news on stop-arm running:

• Motorist in bus-passing incident must wear ‘idiot’ sign

• Stop-arm sweep ends with 7 citations