KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The Knox County school board is poised to pay out $700,000 to cover its part of multiple lawsuits filed after a fatal December 2014 school bus crash.
The board will be asked to approve the budget transfer at its Oct. 16 meeting, records show. Schools spokeswoman Carly Harrington confirmed the transfer Friday and referred questions about the settlement to Knox County Circuit Court records.
Pupils Seraya Glasper, 7, and Zykia Burns, 6, and teacher's aide Kimberly Riddle died when their bus, driven by Joe B. Gallman, was hit by another bus driven by James Davenport on Asheville Highway the afternoon of Dec. 2, 2014.
Gallman was carrying children from Sunnyview Primary School home when Davenport, driving pupils from Chilhowee Intermediate School, veered across Asheville Highway and into his path.
Numerous other people suffered injuries in the crash.
Lawyers filed multiple lawsuits on behalf of victims after the crash in Circuit Court, alleging negligence. Defendants included Knox County, under which the school system falls, Davenport and Robert Burroughs, who employed Davenport.
An investigation found Davenport to blame in the crash. He'd been texting a prostitute moments before the collision. Lawsuits alleged the county and Burroughs knew or should have known Davenport posed a threat behind the wheel.
Davenport and Gallman have since died.
Some 17 lawsuits in the case eventually were consolidated. By agreement and as a result of a settlement, the consolidated lawsuit was dismissed in June, records show.