NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As our community mourns the deaths of two Kenwood Middle School students who were killed in a school bus crash, a parent who helped pull survivors from the wreckage is speaking out against a proposed bill to lower the minimum age for bus drivers.
Arianna Pearson and Zoe Davis died when their school bus drifted across the double line and crashed into a dump truck. The bus was traveling to Jackson for a competition to race electric cars the students had built.
Xaviel Lugo and his family were driving behind the bus to cheer on his daughter, Lani. Their dash camera captured the moment the bus crossed the center line.
"There are a couple times we were following the bus moved over, but I thought it was the wind," Xaviel Lugo said.
Following the collision, Xaviel Lugo pulled dozens of children, including Lani, from the wreckage to safety.
"I saw a lot of blood and gas, blood dripping with the gas too. It was just dripping down. It was horrific," Xaviel Lugo said.
Lani said it was a rare occasion for her to ride the school bus.
"I felt something was off. I had a bad feeling," Lani said.
After witnessing the tragedy, Xaviel Lugo is urging lawmakers to reject a bill that would lower the minimum age for school bus drivers in Tennessee from 25 to 21. The legislation, sponsored by Republican State Rep. Mike Sparks of Smyrna, is intended to help with the state's driver shortage.
"We should be making things safer, not less safe," Xaviel Lugo said.
"These kids, they're our future, they're precious cargo. These bus drivers, they need to be really well trained too. They need to know how to drive and have that experience of driving," Xaviel Lugo said.
"Each one of us parents trust the school system and bus drivers when we send our child to school every day," Xaviel Lugo said.
"I just asked them to really think about it and see if that’s right," Xaviel Lugo said.
In a statement, Sparks said his heart grieves for the children. He said his bill would address "Tennessee's driver shortage while retaining the vital safeguards that require experienced and responsible drivers."
"This is a remedy to fix it," Sparks said in a March 2025 interview.
The bill has stalled in the House and failed in a Senate committee.
Federal investigators are looking into the cause of the crash. The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the driver, Sabrina Ducksworth, was shuttling 24 Kenwood Middle School students and four adults. Investigators did not release Ducksworth's age.
The current 25-year-old minimum age requirement was established after a 2016 school bus crash in Chattanooga that killed six children and injured 23 others. The driver in that crash, 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and reckless aggravated assault after investigators determined he was speeding and on his phone.
The school system is providing counselors, social workers, and psychologists to comfort students, teachers, and staff at Kenwood Middle School as they process the loss.
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
