Family of girl killed in Illinois school bus crash awarded $1M by jury

By Jim Greene

Published on September 09, 2005

Deborah Ward filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of the estate of her daughter Shawna, accusing the Vandalia Community Unit School District and bus driver Eugene Rogers of negligence, to which the district and the driver had previously admitted.

The district had offered compensation of $130,118.69 for medical and burial expenses. To this the jury added $75,000 for the girl's pain and suffering and $800,000 for the family's loss.

The slid into a ravine and rolled over onto its side. Witnesses testified that Shawna was conscious and yelling about her pain when rescuers arrived and found her lower body pinned under the bus. Her blood pressure was reportedly too low to administer pain medication.

Rescuers said Shawna was unresponsive when she was carried from the ravine and airlifted to a hospital, although her mother testified that the girl was able to move her head at the hospital, before she was attached to a life support system, including a breathing tube. Shawna died two days later, when doctors determined she would not survive on her own and ended life support.

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