SHOSHONE, Idaho — A former school bus driver here was charged last week with misdemeanor reckless driving after a crash that injured dozens of students in April, the Times-News reports.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for July 14, according to the newspaper.

As previously reported, an Idaho State Police report stated that Richard Mecham drove off the right shoulder of the highway, overcorrected, and rolled a Blaine County School District bus while transporting a junior high track team to a meet on April 18. Police said that 12 of the 39 students were transported to nearby hospitals — seven by ground ambulance and five by air. Chaperones aboard the bus were treated at the scene and released. Mecham was not injured.

The Times-News reported in May that an Idaho State Police collision report said Mecham was asleep, drowsy, or fatigued while operating the school bus.

SBF previously reported that the week after the crash, Blaine County School District Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes said in a letter to staff and parents that the district had been informed that charges were pending against Mecham, and he was no longer employed by the district. Soon after, Holmes released another update, which stated that the transportation director at the time of the crash was no longer employed by the district, and that an investigation found “a failure to follow internal procedures and our code of ethics in supervising drivers.”

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