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‘Pedal misappropriation’ likely the finding

A final report from the National Transportation Safety Board could be released next month revealing the cause of a Liberty school bus crash in 2005 that killed two motorists and injured 23 children and the bus driver.

According to an NTSB spokeswoman, a press release will be issued when the report comes out in September.

Lt. Tim Moore of the Liberty Police Department said he was told the board would be reviewing the final report on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

“They said about two weeks after that it would be available on their Web site,” Moore said.

Moore said his understanding was that the Liberty accident was being consolidated with four other similar accidents across the country under a report called “Pedal Misappropriation Special Investigation Report.”

Pedal misappropriation is when a driver mistakes the accelerator for the brake pedal.

Although the bus driver, Irma Denise Thomas, has not spoken publicly to the media after the accident, her attorney said she believed the brakes failed.

Last year a Clay County grand jury declined to indict Thomas on any criminal charges in the crash.

On the morning of May 9, 2005, Thomas was driving a school bus filled with 53 students to Ridgeview Elementary School south on Missouri Highway 291when it careened out of control near the intersection of Highway 291 and Missouri Highway 152, slamming into two vehicles waiting at a signal light. Killed in the crash were David Sandweiss and David Gleason, and two children were critically injured. Sandweiss’ wife, Lana, committed suicide last November.

Superintendent Mike Brewer said the district had received no information from the NTSB recently. He said the last correspondence from the agency the district received was on July 12, 2007, when a five-inch thick document was turned over.

“We haven’t heard anything from them about a final report,” Brewer said.

Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-4941 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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