August 10, 2025 • 19 mins
Sixty-three excited teenagers and four adult chaperones boarded a church bus on a sunny May morning in 1988, anticipating a day of roller coasters and fun at Kings Island Theme Park. No one suspected their joyful outing would become the deadliest drunk driving accident in American history—and reveal fatal flaws in school bus design that would transform transportation safety forever.
The collision itself wasn't fatal. Larry Wayne Mahoney, driving with a blood alcohol level nearly 2.5 times the legal limit, headed northbound in the southbound lanes of I-71 before striking the church bus head-on. But what turned a survivable crash into a nightmare was a perfect storm of design failures: an unprotected fuel tank positioned directly beneath the front steps, flammable seat materials that released toxic gas when burning, and inadequate emergency exits that created deadly bottlenecks as panicked children fought to escape the rapidly spreading flames.
Most tragically, the bus had been manufactured just eight days before new federal regulations would have required protective guards around the fuel tank. Those guards might have prevented the puncture that leaked 57 gallons of gasoline and ignited the inferno that claimed 27 young lives. While media focused on Mahoney's intoxication, two determined families fought to expose how corporate cost-cutting and regulatory timing had created the conditions for catastrophe. Their advocacy helped Kentucky implement the nation's strictest school bus safety standards and spurred nationwide reforms that continue to protect children today.
Life is short and tomorrow is never guaranteed—a lesson learned at devastating cost on that Kentucky highway. The Carrollton bus crash reminds us how seemingly small safety details can determine who lives and who dies when disaster strikes.
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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the weekend, you're young and excited.
You're meeting up with yourfriends in your local church
youth group.
You're ready to get on the busand head out on a trip to a
theme park just under 200 milesaway, ready for an exciting day
of roller coasters and playinggames and just having fun.
No one could suspect the eventsthat would unfold and lead to
(00:25):
the worst drunk driving accidentin US history.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this isHistory's A Disaster.
Tonight we are taking a lookinto the Carrollton Kentucky bus
(00:47):
crash of 1988.
A head-on collision caused by adrunk driver that claimed the
lives of mostly high school-agedkids.
This episode is brought to youby the Little Stripling
Marshmallow Company the perfectmarshmallow to roast over your
next campfire.
Now, on the morning of May 14th1988, it was a warm and sunny
(01:15):
day filled with promise.
Teens were gathering at theRadcliffe First Assembly of God
Church.
The youth group was gettingtogether to make the 170-mile
trip to Kings Island Theme Parkin Mason, ohio, for Church Day.
Associate Pastor John Piermanwould be driving, along with
(01:36):
Youth Pastor Chuck Chiatta andtwo other adults.
Joy Williams, the church'smusic director, and her friend
Janie Padgett would helpchaperone that day, and they
would need all the help theycould get.
More kids were showing up thanthey expected.
The bus was at full capacity,with four adults and 63 kids,
(02:00):
the youngest of which was 10years old.
They would spend most of theday into the evening riding
roller coasters, playing games,spending the money they had as
they enjoyed the day with theirfriends.
They got back on the bus asevening was falling.
It was going to be a long drivehome.
(02:21):
Some of the kids talked, othersnapped.
As the bus droned on going downthe road, a helium balloon
bounced in the breeze from anopen window.
Karen Foran pulled the balloondown and used it as a pillow as
she tried to nap.
While they enjoyed their day out, larry Wayne Mahoney was
(02:41):
enjoying his Except.
He chose to enjoy his day withbeer.
Larry has often been describedas a quiet, hard-working man,
but on May 14th he had spent theday drinking at the bar before
heading to some friend's houseto drink some more.
And while he was clearly drunk,his friends did take his keys
(03:04):
from him and only return themwhen he promised to drive
straight home.
He did not.
Instead, he chose to go drinksome more and pick up another
12-pack for the road.
He then proceeded to head northon I-71 before cutting through
(03:25):
the grass median and headinginto the southbound lanes.
He narrowly avoided hitting 14vehicles as he sped up the
highway in the wrong direction,dodging and passing cars and
semis.
He, however, did not miss thebus hand side, near the main
(03:56):
side door of the bus, beforespinning out and slamming into
another car that was thrownacross the median before coming
to a complete stop.
The bus skidded to a stop afterthe collision.
Shaken and in shock, the kidsin the back were thrown into the
seats in front of them.
On impact, some hit the floorof the bus as they tried to make
sense of what had just happened.
Before they could make sense ofanything, a whoosh filled the
(04:19):
bus with intense heat as a firestarted near the front of the
bus.
Chaos erupted immediately asthe kids started screaming and
trying to get out, with thefront quickly going up in flames
.
The only choices they had wasthe rear exit or the windows,
those hard as fuck to openwindows that typically required
(04:42):
three hands to open, and even ifyou did manage to get them open
, they did not open very far.
One of the chaperones was ableto make it out an already open
window, but most of the kidschose to head to the rear exit.
They just had to make it downthe narrow aisle the aisle that
(05:03):
was partially blocked by coolersand other debris that had
spilled into the aisles orclimbed over seats, seats In the
narrow space.
The crowd of panicked kids beganto crush into each other.
(05:23):
Some tripped and fell, wheretheir friends would crawl over
them in their haste to get out.
Once outside, a few would turnto help pull people out of the
bus and the crush that hadstarted.
Christy Pierman had hesitatedgetting out of the bus.
Her dad was driving and shecouldn't see him.
The heat in the bus was gettingworse.
The seats were burning theskins off the hands of anyone
(05:45):
who touched them.
Jack Armstrong, a witness to thecrash that had been driving in
the northbound lane, stopped tohelp, along with residents from
nearby houses.
They helped pull the kids outand got the injured taken to the
grassy median to wait forparamedics.
Karen Foran suffered extremeburns over her arms and neck
(06:07):
when the helium balloon in herlap exploded.
Others were so badly burnedthat rescuers didn't know if it
was a boy or a girl they werepulling from the bus.
Hair was burned away and theirskin was burnt and falling off.
Kentucky State Police and theCampbellsburg Fire Department
arrived within minutes of beingcalled.
(06:29):
The school bus was completelyengulfed.
Flames were shooting out of therear exit door.
As the firefighters fought toput out the burning bus,
paramedics and medical personnelwere quickly brought in to
start triage on the injured.
A medevac chopper from thenearby Humana Hospital, along
with 10 ambulances, worked toget the wounded brought to the
(06:52):
hospital.
10 ambulances worked to get thewounded brought to the hospital
.
One of the rescue volunteerswas the first to approach the
pickup that had caused theaccident.
Its roof was caved in almostflat, but the driver was alive
and laying across the front seat.
He found the driver's ID alongwith three cans of Miller Lite,
two full and one almost emptycans of Miller Lite, two full
(07:19):
and one almost empty.
A blood test an hour and a halfafter the crash showed his
blood alcohol content to be 0.24.
The legal limit in Kentucky atthe time was 0.1.
So an hour and a half after theaccident, his blood alcohol was
still two and a half times thelegal limit.
When the Carroll County coroner,james Dunn, arrived, he turned
his attention to the now-smokingruins of the bus.
(07:42):
A noticeably distraughtfirefighter stood guard at the
ruined rear door.
Dunn entered the still-hot busand was immediately assaulted
with the smell of burnt rubberand upholstery and on top of it
the smell of burning skin andhair.
After a quick sweep with hisflashlight at the nightmare
scene, he quickly exited andshut the door.
(08:04):
He couldn't believe what he hadjust seen, but he had a job to
do and he had to go back inthere.
He had to evaluate the sceneand note the burnt bodies
stacked on top of each other ordraped over the backs of seats
where they had tried to escape.
It was a ghoulish scene.
(08:26):
While they needed to start theinvestigation immediately, they
decided it would take too longand the nature of the scene was
too graphic that it could not bedone on scene with all the
survivors, onlookers and mediaon site.
Cranes and a flatbed truck werebrought in to remove the bus to
the National Guard Armory atCarrollton State.
(08:49):
Medical Examiner George Nicholsbegan going through the bus.
27 people were missing, butthey could only account for 26.
It would take multiple searchesbefore they finally found the
last missing person, hiddenunder a seat.
The team had to work slowly toremove the bodies from the bus.
The heat had fused some of thebodies together or to the seats
(09:12):
and floor of the bus.
The heat had fused some of thebodies together or to the seats
and floor of the bus.
They worked their way, startingfrom the back, cutting out
seats as they worked their wayforward to make room.
It was gut-wrenching andheartbreaking work.
They had to stop every 15minutes to cry and collect
themselves before returning toit.
Back in Radcliffe.
(09:32):
Parents were unaware of whathappened as they gathered at the
church to wait for the kids.
When they heard there was anaccident, they suspected it to
be relatively minor and it wouldjust be a short delay.
They figured the kids were onan old school bus.
They couldn't have been safer,right?
What's safer than a bus?
Shortly after midnight thecalls started coming in from
(09:55):
survivors on how bad it actuallywas.
Reverend Don Tennyson called upchurch board members and
volunteers to start manning thephones, answering calls and
making calls to the state,police and hospital to get more
information.
It would take until nearly 3 ambefore they learned the true
(10:16):
horror of the accident.
They heard how the bus hadburnt and there was at least 18
dead.
More information slowlytrickled in on who had survived
and what hospitals they were in.
Parents and family membersslowly drifted off from the
church as they learned wheretheir kids were.
Family members slowly driftedoff from the church as they
learned where their kids were.
(10:37):
Others waited, clinging to thehope their kids were okay by 6
am.
They were desperate as theywere called into the church and
met by a police officer.
Their kids had not been foundand they'd need to go in vans
with the police up the road toCarrollton to help in
identification.
On the ride they were asked towrite down what they could
remember of what the kids werewearing Clothing, jewelry,
(10:59):
anything out of the ordinary,and if they had dental records
or could remember things likewhether or not they had cavities
.
Still in shock, most of theparents had no idea why they
were being asked such strangequestions.
When they arrived, georgeNichols told them they would not
be allowed to see the kids,that they needed to remember
(11:21):
them, how they had seen themlast.
The identification of thebodies would be difficult 23
would be identified by dentalrecords, two by physical
features and the rest bypersonal items like jewelry.
Autopsies on all 27 would becompleted by the following
(11:46):
evening, on Monday during apress conference Nichols
released they had all died ofsmoke inhalation.
It was a small white lie toease some of the parents.
He did not want them to thinkof their kids alive and burning
to death.
The injuries from the accidentranged from minor to severe.
The worst injuries happened tothose closer to the front of the
(12:09):
bus, with the exception ofKaren.
She sustained burns over 60% ofher body when the helium
balloon in her lap exploded andcaught fire.
Her right hand was burnt to thebone.
Flesh and muscle and tendonwere just gone.
Her vocal cords were severelydamaged by the heat.
She would have to go through 14surgeries just on her voice box
(12:32):
and vocal cords.
Dennis Perlman Jr was severelyburnt and had to endure multiple
skin grafts over most of hisbody.
Carrie Orant's leg was so badlyburnt from being in the front
of the bus there was no savingit and they would end up having
to amputate her leg.
Carroll County Attorney JohnAikman Jr announced during a
(12:55):
press conference that JamesMahoney would be charged with 27
counts of capital murder andwould seek the death sentence,
which would receive somebacklash.
When there was considerablepublic support for Mahoney and
was publicly forgiven by some ofthe survivors, others
absolutely hated him.
Public opinion was very divided.
(13:18):
In the end he would be chargedwith 27 counts of second-degree
manslaughter, 16 counts ofsecond-degree assault and 27
counts of wanton endangerment.
He would be found guilty andsentenced to 16 years in prison.
He was released after 10 yearsand 11 months on parole and has
(13:39):
since avoided speaking of theaccident.
But Mahoney's part in thistragedy is only half the story.
No one was killed due to thecollision.
The fire had claimed every life.
So why did this bus burst intoflames?
During the investigation, theNTSB believes that during the
(14:00):
crash a leaf spring broke looseand punctured the fuel tank the
unprotected fuel tank that liesjust below the first three rows
of seats and behind the frontdoor.
They had just filled up thetank before the crash, so it was
nearly full with 57 gallons ofgas in the tank.
(14:20):
After the tank was punctured,either sparks from metal
dragging on the road or the hotend of the leaf spring ignited
the tank.
Once the fire started, itquickly spread, aided by
materials on the bus Materialslike the helium balloon and cans
of hairsprays some of the girlscarried, but the main source
(14:42):
was the seats.
The plastic seat covers andcushions helped spread the
flames as well as giving offhydrogen chloride gas, a toxic
byproduct that added a lot ofsmoke and made it even more
(15:02):
difficult to breathe as the busburned.
Now, back in the 70s, there wasa major call to make the school
buses safer, specifically in1977, regarding these fuel tanks
.
The changes called for a guardto be installed around the tank
to protect it in case of anaccident.
Ford, the maker of the bus, wascompletely ready to comply with
(15:26):
all the new standards that werebeing put into place.
However, they were going towait until the last minute to
make the buses to the new legalstandard and since they put it
off until the new changes wentinto effect, many buses were
built without the guard aroundthe fuel tank, buses like the
(15:46):
one in the accident, which wasbuilt just eight days before the
changes went into effect.
The chassis of the bus had theholes in it for the guard, but
at the time it was considered anoptional extra and schools,
always looking to save a fewbucks, didn't spend money on
extras.
Ford would be sued within weeksof the crash and a settlement
(16:09):
was reached with most of thefamilies.
Two families did not take thesettlement and kept on fighting.
They did not want the flaws inthe buses to be forgotten.
The country was alreadyfocusing on it being the worst
drunk driving accident andignoring the problems with the
buses.
While they would eventually win, they failed to convince Ford
(16:32):
to do something about the busesstill in service.
Improvements would come fromthis, though.
Shortly after the accident,kentucky began offering free
safety inspections for privatelyowned buses, like that used by
the church.
The state would also introducerequirements for nine emergency
exits on school buses, more thanin any other state.
(16:55):
They also required a cage forthe fuel tank, a stronger frame,
extra seat padding,flame-retardant seats and floors
, a fuel system that will slowleaks, along with other safety
features.
Many other state and localagencies would end up following
suit.
Many other state and localagencies would end up following
(17:17):
suit.
Many of the survivors andfamily members would go on to
fight against drunk driving,with a few becoming prominent
members and mothers againstdrunk drivers.
A black marble memorial to theaccident is now on display at
the North Hardin Memorial GardenCemetery, along with a green
sign marking the accident sitealong the highway.
(17:45):
And that was the CarrolltonKentucky bus crash of 1988.
The worst drunk drivingaccident in US history, and you
know what.
I absolutely hate that.
That is how it is known.
Yes, drunk driving is bad Way.
Too many people have diedbecause of some shithead's
decision to get behind the wheelof a car drunk.
(18:07):
But regardless of the drunkdriving, this was bound to
happen.
These buses were essentiallymobile bombs, just waiting for
the spark needed to go off.
Had Ford gone ahead and addedthese fuel tank guards, this
would have been a relativelyminor accident.
Sure, the kids would havegotten some bumps and bruises,
(18:29):
but they would still be alivetoday.
Thanks for listening and if youliked the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and you can
reach the show athistoryisadisaster at gmailcom
with questions, comments orsuggestions, and follow the show
on social media like Facebookor Instagram and a few others,
(18:53):
and share the episode.
Take care of yourself out there.
Life is short.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed.
So chase that dream, shoot yourshot, kiss the girl, live for
the day, because tomorrow isnever guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.
It's the weekend, you're young and excited.
You're meeting up with yourfriends in your local church
youth group.
You're ready to get on the busand head out on a trip to a
theme park just under 200 milesaway, ready for an exciting day
of roller coasters and playinggames and just having fun.
No one could suspect the eventsthat would unfold and lead to
(00:25):
the worst drunk driving accidentin US history.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this isHistory's A Disaster.
Tonight we are taking a lookinto the Carrollton Kentucky bus
(00:47):
crash of 1988.
A head-on collision caused by adrunk driver that claimed the
lives of mostly high school-agedkids.
This episode is brought to youby the Little Stripling
Marshmallow Company the perfectmarshmallow to roast over your
next campfire.
Now, on the morning of May 14th1988, it was a warm and sunny
(01:15):
day filled with promise.
Teens were gathering at theRadcliffe First Assembly of God
Church.
The youth group was gettingtogether to make the 170-mile
trip to Kings Island Theme Parkin Mason, ohio, for Church Day.
Associate Pastor John Piermanwould be driving, along with
(01:36):
Youth Pastor Chuck Chiatta andtwo other adults.
Joy Williams, the church'smusic director, and her friend
Janie Padgett would helpchaperone that day, and they
would need all the help theycould get.
More kids were showing up thanthey expected.
The bus was at full capacity,with four adults and 63 kids,
(02:00):
the youngest of which was 10years old.
They would spend most of theday into the evening riding
roller coasters, playing games,spending the money they had as
they enjoyed the day with theirfriends.
They got back on the bus asevening was falling.
It was going to be a long drivehome.
(02:21):
Some of the kids talked, othersnapped.
As the bus droned on going downthe road, a helium balloon
bounced in the breeze from anopen window.
Karen Foran pulled the balloondown and used it as a pillow as
she tried to nap.
While they enjoyed their day out, larry Wayne Mahoney was
(02:41):
enjoying his Except.
He chose to enjoy his day withbeer.
Larry has often been describedas a quiet, hard-working man,
but on May 14th he had spent theday drinking at the bar before
heading to some friend's houseto drink some more.
And while he was clearly drunk,his friends did take his keys
(03:04):
from him and only return themwhen he promised to drive
straight home.
He did not.
Instead, he chose to go drinksome more and pick up another
12-pack for the road.
He then proceeded to head northon I-71 before cutting through
(03:25):
the grass median and headinginto the southbound lanes.
He narrowly avoided hitting 14vehicles as he sped up the
highway in the wrong direction,dodging and passing cars and
semis.
He, however, did not miss thebus hand side, near the main
(03:56):
side door of the bus, beforespinning out and slamming into
another car that was thrownacross the median before coming
to a complete stop.
The bus skidded to a stop afterthe collision.
Shaken and in shock, the kidsin the back were thrown into the
seats in front of them.
On impact, some hit the floorof the bus as they tried to make
sense of what had just happened.
Before they could make sense ofanything, a whoosh filled the
(04:19):
bus with intense heat as a firestarted near the front of the
bus.
Chaos erupted immediately asthe kids started screaming and
trying to get out, with thefront quickly going up in flames
.
The only choices they had wasthe rear exit or the windows,
those hard as fuck to openwindows that typically required
(04:42):
three hands to open, and even ifyou did manage to get them open
, they did not open very far.
One of the chaperones was ableto make it out an already open
window, but most of the kidschose to head to the rear exit.
They just had to make it downthe narrow aisle the aisle that
(05:03):
was partially blocked by coolersand other debris that had
spilled into the aisles orclimbed over seats, seats In the
narrow space.
The crowd of panicked kids beganto crush into each other.
(05:23):
Some tripped and fell, wheretheir friends would crawl over
them in their haste to get out.
Once outside, a few would turnto help pull people out of the
bus and the crush that hadstarted.
Christy Pierman had hesitatedgetting out of the bus.
Her dad was driving and shecouldn't see him.
The heat in the bus was gettingworse.
The seats were burning theskins off the hands of anyone
(05:45):
who touched them.
Jack Armstrong, a witness to thecrash that had been driving in
the northbound lane, stopped tohelp, along with residents from
nearby houses.
They helped pull the kids outand got the injured taken to the
grassy median to wait forparamedics.
Karen Foran suffered extremeburns over her arms and neck
(06:07):
when the helium balloon in herlap exploded.
Others were so badly burnedthat rescuers didn't know if it
was a boy or a girl they werepulling from the bus.
Hair was burned away and theirskin was burnt and falling off.
Kentucky State Police and theCampbellsburg Fire Department
arrived within minutes of beingcalled.
(06:29):
The school bus was completelyengulfed.
Flames were shooting out of therear exit door.
As the firefighters fought toput out the burning bus,
paramedics and medical personnelwere quickly brought in to
start triage on the injured.
A medevac chopper from thenearby Humana Hospital, along
with 10 ambulances, worked toget the wounded brought to the
(06:52):
hospital.
10 ambulances worked to get thewounded brought to the hospital
.
One of the rescue volunteerswas the first to approach the
pickup that had caused theaccident.
Its roof was caved in almostflat, but the driver was alive
and laying across the front seat.
He found the driver's ID alongwith three cans of Miller Lite,
two full and one almost emptycans of Miller Lite, two full
(07:19):
and one almost empty.
A blood test an hour and a halfafter the crash showed his
blood alcohol content to be 0.24.
The legal limit in Kentucky atthe time was 0.1.
So an hour and a half after theaccident, his blood alcohol was
still two and a half times thelegal limit.
When the Carroll County coroner,james Dunn, arrived, he turned
his attention to the now-smokingruins of the bus.
(07:42):
A noticeably distraughtfirefighter stood guard at the
ruined rear door.
Dunn entered the still-hot busand was immediately assaulted
with the smell of burnt rubberand upholstery and on top of it
the smell of burning skin andhair.
After a quick sweep with hisflashlight at the nightmare
scene, he quickly exited andshut the door.
(08:04):
He couldn't believe what he hadjust seen, but he had a job to
do and he had to go back inthere.
He had to evaluate the sceneand note the burnt bodies
stacked on top of each other ordraped over the backs of seats
where they had tried to escape.
It was a ghoulish scene.
(08:26):
While they needed to start theinvestigation immediately, they
decided it would take too longand the nature of the scene was
too graphic that it could not bedone on scene with all the
survivors, onlookers and mediaon site.
Cranes and a flatbed truck werebrought in to remove the bus to
the National Guard Armory atCarrollton State.
(08:49):
Medical Examiner George Nicholsbegan going through the bus.
27 people were missing, butthey could only account for 26.
It would take multiple searchesbefore they finally found the
last missing person, hiddenunder a seat.
The team had to work slowly toremove the bodies from the bus.
The heat had fused some of thebodies together or to the seats
(09:12):
and floor of the bus.
The heat had fused some of thebodies together or to the seats
and floor of the bus.
They worked their way, startingfrom the back, cutting out
seats as they worked their wayforward to make room.
It was gut-wrenching andheartbreaking work.
They had to stop every 15minutes to cry and collect
themselves before returning toit.
Back in Radcliffe.
(09:32):
Parents were unaware of whathappened as they gathered at the
church to wait for the kids.
When they heard there was anaccident, they suspected it to
be relatively minor and it wouldjust be a short delay.
They figured the kids were onan old school bus.
They couldn't have been safer,right?
What's safer than a bus?
Shortly after midnight thecalls started coming in from
(09:55):
survivors on how bad it actuallywas.
Reverend Don Tennyson called upchurch board members and
volunteers to start manning thephones, answering calls and
making calls to the state,police and hospital to get more
information.
It would take until nearly 3 ambefore they learned the true
(10:16):
horror of the accident.
They heard how the bus hadburnt and there was at least 18
dead.
More information slowlytrickled in on who had survived
and what hospitals they were in.
Parents and family membersslowly drifted off from the
church as they learned wheretheir kids were.
Family members slowly driftedoff from the church as they
learned where their kids were.
(10:37):
Others waited, clinging to thehope their kids were okay by 6
am.
They were desperate as theywere called into the church and
met by a police officer.
Their kids had not been foundand they'd need to go in vans
with the police up the road toCarrollton to help in
identification.
On the ride they were asked towrite down what they could
remember of what the kids werewearing Clothing, jewelry,
(10:59):
anything out of the ordinary,and if they had dental records
or could remember things likewhether or not they had cavities
.
Still in shock, most of theparents had no idea why they
were being asked such strangequestions.
When they arrived, georgeNichols told them they would not
be allowed to see the kids,that they needed to remember
(11:21):
them, how they had seen themlast.
The identification of thebodies would be difficult 23
would be identified by dentalrecords, two by physical
features and the rest bypersonal items like jewelry.
Autopsies on all 27 would becompleted by the following
(11:46):
evening, on Monday during apress conference Nichols
released they had all died ofsmoke inhalation.
It was a small white lie toease some of the parents.
He did not want them to thinkof their kids alive and burning
to death.
The injuries from the accidentranged from minor to severe.
The worst injuries happened tothose closer to the front of the
(12:09):
bus, with the exception ofKaren.
She sustained burns over 60% ofher body when the helium
balloon in her lap exploded andcaught fire.
Her right hand was burnt to thebone.
Flesh and muscle and tendonwere just gone.
Her vocal cords were severelydamaged by the heat.
She would have to go through 14surgeries just on her voice box
(12:32):
and vocal cords.
Dennis Perlman Jr was severelyburnt and had to endure multiple
skin grafts over most of hisbody.
Carrie Orant's leg was so badlyburnt from being in the front
of the bus there was no savingit and they would end up having
to amputate her leg.
Carroll County Attorney JohnAikman Jr announced during a
(12:55):
press conference that JamesMahoney would be charged with 27
counts of capital murder andwould seek the death sentence,
which would receive somebacklash.
When there was considerablepublic support for Mahoney and
was publicly forgiven by some ofthe survivors, others
absolutely hated him.
Public opinion was very divided.
(13:18):
In the end he would be chargedwith 27 counts of second-degree
manslaughter, 16 counts ofsecond-degree assault and 27
counts of wanton endangerment.
He would be found guilty andsentenced to 16 years in prison.
He was released after 10 yearsand 11 months on parole and has
(13:39):
since avoided speaking of theaccident.
But Mahoney's part in thistragedy is only half the story.
No one was killed due to thecollision.
The fire had claimed every life.
So why did this bus burst intoflames?
During the investigation, theNTSB believes that during the
(14:00):
crash a leaf spring broke looseand punctured the fuel tank the
unprotected fuel tank that liesjust below the first three rows
of seats and behind the frontdoor.
They had just filled up thetank before the crash, so it was
nearly full with 57 gallons ofgas in the tank.
(14:20):
After the tank was punctured,either sparks from metal
dragging on the road or the hotend of the leaf spring ignited
the tank.
Once the fire started, itquickly spread, aided by
materials on the bus Materialslike the helium balloon and cans
of hairsprays some of the girlscarried, but the main source
(14:42):
was the seats.
The plastic seat covers andcushions helped spread the
flames as well as giving offhydrogen chloride gas, a toxic
byproduct that added a lot ofsmoke and made it even more
(15:02):
difficult to breathe as the busburned.
Now, back in the 70s, there wasa major call to make the school
buses safer, specifically in1977, regarding these fuel tanks
.
The changes called for a guardto be installed around the tank
to protect it in case of anaccident.
Ford, the maker of the bus, wascompletely ready to comply with
(15:26):
all the new standards that werebeing put into place.
However, they were going towait until the last minute to
make the buses to the new legalstandard and since they put it
off until the new changes wentinto effect, many buses were
built without the guard aroundthe fuel tank, buses like the
(15:46):
one in the accident, which wasbuilt just eight days before the
changes went into effect.
The chassis of the bus had theholes in it for the guard, but
at the time it was considered anoptional extra and schools,
always looking to save a fewbucks, didn't spend money on
extras.
Ford would be sued within weeksof the crash and a settlement
(16:09):
was reached with most of thefamilies.
Two families did not take thesettlement and kept on fighting.
They did not want the flaws inthe buses to be forgotten.
The country was alreadyfocusing on it being the worst
drunk driving accident andignoring the problems with the
buses.
While they would eventually win, they failed to convince Ford
(16:32):
to do something about the busesstill in service.
Improvements would come fromthis, though.
Shortly after the accident,kentucky began offering free
safety inspections for privatelyowned buses, like that used by
the church.
The state would also introducerequirements for nine emergency
exits on school buses, more thanin any other state.
(16:55):
They also required a cage forthe fuel tank, a stronger frame,
extra seat padding,flame-retardant seats and floors
, a fuel system that will slowleaks, along with other safety
features.
Many other state and localagencies would end up following
suit.
Many other state and localagencies would end up following
(17:17):
suit.
Many of the survivors andfamily members would go on to
fight against drunk driving,with a few becoming prominent
members and mothers againstdrunk drivers.
A black marble memorial to theaccident is now on display at
the North Hardin Memorial GardenCemetery, along with a green
sign marking the accident sitealong the highway.
(17:45):
And that was the CarrolltonKentucky bus crash of 1988.
The worst drunk drivingaccident in US history, and you
know what.
I absolutely hate that.
That is how it is known.
Yes, drunk driving is bad Way.
Too many people have diedbecause of some shithead's
decision to get behind the wheelof a car drunk.
(18:07):
But regardless of the drunkdriving, this was bound to
happen.
These buses were essentiallymobile bombs, just waiting for
the spark needed to go off.
Had Ford gone ahead and addedthese fuel tank guards, this
would have been a relativelyminor accident.
Sure, the kids would havegotten some bumps and bruises,
(18:29):
but they would still be alivetoday.
Thanks for listening and if youliked the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and you can
reach the show athistoryisadisaster at gmailcom
with questions, comments orsuggestions, and follow the show
on social media like Facebookor Instagram and a few others,
(18:53):
and share the episode.
Take care of yourself out there.
Life is short.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed.
So chase that dream, shoot yourshot, kiss the girl, live for
the day, because tomorrow isnever guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.
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