BURIEN, Wash. — As students from Raisbeck Aviation High in Tukwila rode their school bus the morning of April 27, 2018, they had no way of knowing they would be involved in a fatal collision in Burien.
Just after 8:30 that morning, a white Toyota Prius crossed the center line on Glendale Way South and smashed head-on into the bus.
KIRO 7 has obtained surveillance video in which the bus driver says immediately after impact, “this car came across and ran right into me. I was in my lane.” The driver then asks the students, “You guys OK? Everybody OK?”
Seventeen children were onboard. Four were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
However, Danita Brown – a passenger in the vehicle that crossed the center line – was killed.
According to documents filed this week in King County Superior Court, 24-year-old Jeffrey Lash has been charged with vehicular homicide.
Investigators say Lash was driving the stolen Prius that struck the bus. Brown had been sitting in the car’s back seat.
King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ryan Abbott told KIRO 7 that Lash was under the influence at the time of the collision. “The urine test came back positive for marijuana,” Abbott said Thursday.
Lash was also critically severely injured, but recovered. Days before the Federal Way man was charged in connection with vehicular homicide for the crash that killed Brown, Lash was arrested for allegedly stealing another car.
"You would think a serious accident like that would be a wake-up call," Abbott told KIRO 7.
Lash is now behind bars at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
He’s expected to be arraigned early next month on charges of vehicular homicide and driving with a suspended license.
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