School bus driver charged in crash didn’t disclose medical info

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Prosecutors announced last week that a former bus driver here who allegedly blacked out, crashed a bus and injured several students, failed to disclose a medical condition, Los Angeles Times reports.

Prosecutors said that on April 24, 2014, Gerald Douglas Rupple was driving a bus for the Orange Unified School District at a speed of about 50 mph when he passed out, according to the newspaper. All 11 students on board suffered injuries, including broken bones and a shattered spine, when the bus slammed into several trees, Los Angeles Times reports.

Rupple is accused of failing to disclose his medical problems when he was hired, according to the newspaper. According to the district attorney’s office, he did not tell the physician conducting his required driver fitness examination about his medical condition. Rupple is charged with one felony count each of child abuse and endangerment, perjury by declaration and a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury, prosecutors said, and he is being held on $100,000 bail, according to Los Angeles Times.

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