A school bus is set on fire with kids inside. An ex-Utah bus driver is now being charged.
A federal magistrate judge said Michael Austin Ford, 58, was a high risk to the “entire community” and ordered he remain detained without bail.
Sarah Al-Arshani
USA TODAY
A former school bus driver in Utah was ordered to remain behind bars with no bail on Friday after he was accused of setting a school bus on fire on two occasions including one that that had children on board at the time.
The Department of Justice said a federal magistrate judge ordered that Michael Austin Ford, 58, of West Valley City, Utah be detained until trial. In her detention order, which was reviewed by USA TODAY, Magistrate Judge Cecilia M. Romero said Ford posed a high danger “to the entire community.”
A federal grand jury indicted Ford on Feb. 21, 2024, on two counts of arson of a vehicle of an organization receiving federal funds.
Ford only stopped bus when kids complained of smoke from fire: Court docs
According to court documents, Ford set fire to buses on Feb. 24, 2022, and April 7, 2023, while working as a bus driver for the Lake City’s Granite School District.
Prosecutors said in the 2022 incident, Ford was driving a bus that had 42 children inside when he used an ignition device to start a fire. He allegedly kept driving even as flames grew under the dashboard and smoke blew past him towards the back where the kids were seated.
“Undeterred by the smoke, the Defendant only stops the bus when children are seen and heard on video coughing, covering their faces, and complaining about smoke,” prosecutors said in court filings.
In April 2023, Ford again set a bus on fire and continued to drive through traffic even as smoke blew past him, prosecutors said. In court filings, prosecutors said Ford attempted to tamper with the bus surveillance system in the days before the fire.
Both incidents were captured on video. He was arrested by Granite School Police and questioned about the incident, days after the 2023 incident but was then released, officials said.
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Ford acknowledged involvement in 3 previous fires
Court filings also showed that while the arson incidents were being investigated by local authorities in October 2023, fires broke out in Ford’s home and personal car. Ford also “acknowledged to investigators his involvement in three prior bus fires for busses he was driving.” Those incidents occurred in 2017, 2016, and around 2001 or 2002.
Ford has a jury trial scheduled for April 29, 2024 in Salt Lake City.
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