HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas — A 78-year-old Mabank man has been arrested and indicted for criminally negligent homicide and injury to a child in connection with a January 2019 fatal crash involving an Athens Independent School District bus.
According to Henderson County judicial records, John Franklin Stevens, was arrested on Monday and released on $10,000 bond after being indicted for the crimes.
According to a crash report from the Athens Police Department, on Friday, January 25, around 4:30 p.m. an Athens ISD school bus had stopped before crossing the railroad tracks at Cream Level Road, as required by state law.
After the bus proceeded to move forward, the train hit the left side of the bus. The locomotive pushed the bus toward the next crossing. The bus hit signs and a railroad gate before the train and bus came to a rest near the North Murchison Street crossing.
There were three people on the bus at the time of the crash, including Stevens, a middle school student and an elementary school student.
Stevens was taken to a local hospital, treated for his injuries and released the same day.
Christopher Bonilla, 13, was ejected from the bus and pronounced dead at the scene.
Joselyn Torres, 9, was flown to a Dallas hospital in critical condition. She was released from the medical center the week of Bonilla's funeral, which took place on Friday, February 1.
