SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — A school bus driver here faces a misdemeanor charge stemming from a 2016 crash in which another driver died.

Shelby County’s district attorney general, Amy Weirich, announced the indictment in a press release on Thursday.

The incident took place on the morning of Sept. 7, 2016, when April Christopher, 23, was driving a Durham School Services bus. According to investigators, Christopher made a left turn and struck an oncoming vehicle, a 2006 Cadillac driven by Akisha Boddie, 38.

The impact reportedly caused the Cadillac to hit a utility pole at the corner of the intersection, killing the driver.

Christopher was ticketed after the crash. Now, nearly two years later, she has been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of failure to yield resulting in death.

The Commercial Appeal reported that there were no students on the school bus at the time of the crash, and Christopher was not injured.

According to the newspaper, the Cadillac driver, Boddie, was a mother of five. Her sister-in-law said that she had just dropped off her children at school and was headed to work.

A Memphis Police Department spokesman told The Commercial Appeal that the Cadillac hit the right rear corner of the school bus, then spun and hit the utility pole. The crash left Boddie trapped in the mangled car, and witnesses ran to help her.

“We checked her pulse, but she was gone,” Mary Allen, a nursing student, told The Commercial Appeal. “It is awful and so sad for her family.”

About the author
Thomas McMahon

Thomas McMahon

Executive Editor

Thomas had covered the pupil transportation industry with School Bus Fleet since 2002. When he's not writing articles about yellow buses, he enjoys running long distances and making a joyful noise with his guitar.

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