Crash Linked to Driver’s Drug Use
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NEW ORLEANS — A bus driver’s use of marijuana hours before the Mother’s Day crash that killed 22 people was the main cause of the accident, according to a police report released Tuesday.
A blood test showed Frank Bedell, 46, who died Sunday of a heart attack, used marijuana two to six hours before his bus full of mostly elderly women veered off a highway and smashed into a concrete abutment, the report said.
The report listed Bedell’s drug use as the main factor leading to the May 9 crash of the Custom Bus Charters bus.
The report ruled out other possible causes, such as mechanical failure. Bedell’s extensive health problems, including heart disease and kidney failure, were discussed in detail but were not listed as contributing factors.
The report, forwarded to prosecutors last week before Bedell died, recommended that he be charged with vehicular homicide, first-degree vehicular negligent injuring, reckless operation of a vehicle and driving while intoxicated.
Bedell’s death ends any possibility of criminal prosecutions in the case, police said. They declined to elaborate on their findings.
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