Driver in Route F crash that killed Harrisburg teacher charged with second degree murder
The truck driver in the deadly Route F crash that killed a Harrisburg teacher has been charged with second degree murder.
The teacher, Brian Simpson, died after Brandon Brill hit the school bus Simpson was driving head-on.
Six people were on the bus, including Simpson. The other five people were girls on the Harrisburg cross country team.
The five girls had minor to moderate injuries following the crash. The girl that was transported to the hospital has a “walking injury,” but was taken to the hospital anyway.
Investigators say that Brill was in the wrong lane and swerved into the bus. The bus caught fire after the crash and Brill was flown to the hospital with serious injuries after being extricated from the truck.
Prosecutor Dan Knight told ABC 17 News that Brill was driving without a valid license at the time of the crash. The Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote in a probable cause statement that Brill has five prior convictions for driving without a valid license. It is considered a felony after the second offense.
“Any time an individual commits a felony, and someone else dies as a result of the commission of that felony, we can file felony murder, and that’s what we did in this case,” Knight said.
A judge set a $1 million, cash-only bond for Brill.
Knight said other charges could be filed as the investigation continues.
University of Missouri Health Care staff did not have information available on Brill’s condition late Monday afternoon. Media relations staff member Jeff Hoelscher said all four of the teenagers injured had been released from the hospital.
“This case is such a terrible tragedy,” Knight said. “Heartbreaking situation, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that justice is done.”
Brill’s previous charges of driving with a revoked or suspended license span Boone, Audrain and Randolph counties. In July 2014, Judge Wesley Dalton of Audrain County sentenced Brill to two years in prison for driving with a revoked license. The Missouri Department of Corrections paroled him three months into the sentence.
