Indiana mom of 3 kids killed at bus stop speaks out in favor of tougher bus law
ROCHESTER, Ind. -- The mother of three children fatally struck while crossing a northern Indiana highway to board their school bus is backing a move for tougher penalties against drivers who pass buses with extended stop arms.
Brittany Ingle said during a Statehouse news conference Tuesday that she is fighting to prevent other parents from facing the same tragedy.
WATCH: Deadly school bus crash highlights safety issues
"As you know on October 30, 2018, I lost three of my children trying to board their school bus. Never in a million years would you ever think something like this could happen to you. Immediately our story went nation-wide, all over. With that and with all our pain, we wanted to figure out how we could save someone else's family from ever enduring the pain that we're going through. I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose one, let alone three. No mother or father should ever have to bury their child, innocent children trying to go to school. I support this bill 100 percent. I mean and we're very, very passionate about it. Our children meant the world to us," Brittany Ingle said.
Ingle's 9-year-old daughter and twin 6-year-old sons were killed in the Oct. 30 pre-dawn collision on Indiana 25 near Rochester. The driver who hit the children told authorities she didn't realize she was approaching a stopped school bus. She faces three counts of reckless homicide.
"Like my wife said, this is really important to us. We did everything we could for our kids, to make sure they were as safe as possible. Unfortunately, this happened us. Unfortunately, this happens to a lot of people. We have a platform and we're going to use it and make every other kid safe. If there is one thing that can come from this, is that kids don't have to cross the highway to get to a bus or people are held more accountable for actions on disregarding the bus. Safety was our No. 1 concern, still is our No. 1 concern, and we care. This is our drive. This is important," said Sean Ingle, the victims' father.
Sen. Randy Head of Logansport proposes suspending the driver's license for 90 days the first time someone passes a stopped school bus and a year for repeat offenders.
WLS-TV contributed to this report.
