In a press conference Tuesday, Hillsborough County Superintendent Jeff Eakins announced that they have severed ties with Lenoir Sainfimin after the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office charged him with careless driving.
Sainfimin was hired in August and was still in a probation period. He pointed out while very disappointed, the bus driver did assist in helping the kids.
"We had many many heroes that day, first responders, bystanders and the bus driver," said Eakins.
School official said they did a background check and found at his prior school bus driving job in Maryland, he had clean driving record.
The district also released surveillance footage from inside that bus just before the the crash into the Odessa lake last Thursday.
On the left side of the screen you see the driver and on the right side the 27 Elementary school students from Mary Bryant
You see the 54-year-old driver slightly struggling but then the video cuts out right before the crash
Thankfully none of the children were injured and that's what the superintendent stressed during his press conference.
"In my 26 years here in the district, never have we had something like this happen. But of course, we will do a thorough review of protocols and standards," Eakins said.
He does not anticipate any major changes. He said the district already operates at a higher standard than the state including 30 more hours of training.
"You have to remember, these drivers travel over 90,000 miles a day and transport 210,000 students. We are proud of our safety policies in place and always strive to be above the standard," said Eakins.
