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Tour bus driver smoked pot before crash
Source: Agencies |
September 24, 2010, Friday
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A TOUR bus driver smoked marijuana heavily for several days before falling asleep at the wheel and crashing in Utah, killing three Japanese tourists and injuring 11 other passengers, according to an arrest report.
Yasushi Mikuni, 26, was charged with 10 felony counts of negligent driving under the influence and one misdemeanor charge of having marijuana residue in his system. He also faces misdemeanor logbook violation and unsafe lane-change charges in the rollover bus crash on August 9 on Interstate 15 near Cedar City in the US.
Mikuni is a Japanese citizen who lived in Las Vegas.
He flew to Salt Lake City and drove the bus to Las Vegas before setting out the next day for a tour of national parks with seven hours sleep, nicotine gum and energy drinks, the Utah Highway Patrol said.
"The main reason we feel this accident happened was that he was driving too many hours and didn't have enough sleep the night before," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt Ryan Bauer told reporters on Wednesday from Cedar City.
Investigators don't believe Mikuni was impaired while driving, Bauer said. But Utah law doesn't allow a driver to have even a trace of an illicit drug in his or her system and "that's something he's going to have to answer for," he said.
Mikuni was arrested on Monday after volunteering to travel from Las Vegas for an interview with investigators. That saved Utah prosecutors from having to issue an arrest warrant and extradite him from Nevada, Bauer said.
Mikuni was accompanied by his father and a brother, and they also visited the accident scene with troopers.
Mikuni, who was living in Las Vegas on a work and education visa, could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted on all of the felony negligence charges. Those 10 charges stem from the deaths of three passengers and the serious injuries the accident caused seven of the other passengers.
Yasushi Mikuni, 26, was charged with 10 felony counts of negligent driving under the influence and one misdemeanor charge of having marijuana residue in his system. He also faces misdemeanor logbook violation and unsafe lane-change charges in the rollover bus crash on August 9 on Interstate 15 near Cedar City in the US.
Mikuni is a Japanese citizen who lived in Las Vegas.
He flew to Salt Lake City and drove the bus to Las Vegas before setting out the next day for a tour of national parks with seven hours sleep, nicotine gum and energy drinks, the Utah Highway Patrol said.
"The main reason we feel this accident happened was that he was driving too many hours and didn't have enough sleep the night before," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt Ryan Bauer told reporters on Wednesday from Cedar City.
Investigators don't believe Mikuni was impaired while driving, Bauer said. But Utah law doesn't allow a driver to have even a trace of an illicit drug in his or her system and "that's something he's going to have to answer for," he said.
Mikuni was arrested on Monday after volunteering to travel from Las Vegas for an interview with investigators. That saved Utah prosecutors from having to issue an arrest warrant and extradite him from Nevada, Bauer said.
Mikuni was accompanied by his father and a brother, and they also visited the accident scene with troopers.
Mikuni, who was living in Las Vegas on a work and education visa, could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted on all of the felony negligence charges. Those 10 charges stem from the deaths of three passengers and the serious injuries the accident caused seven of the other passengers.
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