TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It is no exaggeration to say this is a case with a busload of victims. 35 students, plus the driver and staff from the Kingman school district. No one died but students were badly hurt. Now the driver who caused the wreck is facing his punishment.
It was April 1, 2025. The school bus from Kingman was bringing students to Tucson for a conference. It was almost at the end of a six hour trip, passing through Marana when a car hit the bus on its corner. The driver veered across three lanes of I-10. The bus landed on its side.
In a statement read by her mother Julie Palz, Kaitlyn Holmes described to the court regaining consciousness to the screams of her classmates, then coping with a life of pain, surgery, and physical therapy
“Somedays I wake up with searing pain in my elbow that I can do nothing to prevent. Many days I struggle with itching under the scars I can do nothing to relieve. I will never be able to follow my brother into the military and as I get older I will likely have to get more surgery to help with my elbow.”
DPS reports say Nicolas Luis Rodriguez was the driver. Troopers say he told them he was hurrying to a job interview and cut across lanes because he was about to miss his exit. Charging documents say he showed signs of driving impaired, and admitted to using a THC vape earlier that day..
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault with severe injury and one count of criminal damage.
He told Judge Casey McGinley he wants to take responsibility for how his moment of irresponsibility affected everyone on that school bus.
“Many innocent peoples lives were changed that day, changed in ways that I will never be able to process. I doubt that I will ever go through a day in my life where I won’t think about the accident and the victims and if I had just made more intelligible and reasonable decisions on the day of the accident, this could have been avoided.”
Judge McGinley imposed sentences that put Rodriguez in prison for seven years. Rodriguez is also under court order to pay more than 179 thousand dollars in restitution to victims and for damage to the school bus.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
