Bus driver sentenced to 15 years in prison for deadly crash

EDGARD, La. – A bus driver has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for a crash that killed a firefighter and two other people on an interstate in Louisiana.

The Advocate reports that Denis Amaya Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, received the maximum sentence on Monday for his conviction in the August 2016 crash on Interstate 10 in LaPlace.

At trial, prosecutors said Amaya was rushing to beat traffic when the bus he was driving plowed into a parked fire truck that had stopped to assist with a crash that morning.

St. John the Baptist Parish Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin, Vontarous Kelly, and Jeramine Starr died in the crash.

Amaya’s attorney said he was driving a defective “party” bus taking people to Baton Rouge to look for work after historic flooding.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com