Jury Gives $910,000 in Lawsuit

NEWS ARTICLE EXCERPT

By: Kathy Steele, The Augusta Chronicle (GA), October 9, 1997

Jurors took 2 1/2 hours to decide that the South Carolina Department of Education was to blame for the 1996 traffic death of an 8-year-old Beech Island girl, and awarded $910,000 in damages Wednesday.

The state court verdict came after two days of conflicting testimony about whether former Aiken County school bus driver Walter Parker told students, including Brittany Smalls, to cross Beech Island Avenue before his bus arrived to pick them up.

Three students said he threatened to leave them behind if they didn't cross the road. Three others said they never heard that order.

"This is a case of a girl (being) killed because of the negligence of the schools and the bus driver," said Richard Harpootlian, attorney for the girl's family.

Brittany's parents, Donald and Bonilla Smalls, filed the wrongful-death lawsuit against the Education Department; Vincent Bussiere, the driver of the truck that struck their daughter; and T.F. Anderson and Sons Inc., the truck's owner. Mr. Bussiere and T.F. Anderson settled with the Smalls family before the trial.

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