School Bus Driver Pleads Guilty in Fatal Hit-and-Run in Brooklyn Park
A school bus driver has admitted to running over and killing a woman in Brooklyn Park with children aboard, then fleeing the scene.
Jason Rynders, 35, of Maple Grove, pleaded guilty to hit-and-run criminal vehicular homicide. The fatal accident occurred March 16, 2020 at the intersection of Humboldt Avenue and Meadowwood Drive. Devon Doherty, 45, of Brooklyn Park, died at the scene.
When police arrived at the scene, they were contacted by a man who was visibly upset. According to the criminal complaint, the man told police he was driving to work when he saw a school bus stopped on the right side of Humboldt Avenue. He then felt his car hit something in the road. That’s when the man noticed a woman lying in the road.
The man saw the bus driver standing outside the bus and told him to call 911. Instead the bus driver returned to the bus and left the area, the complaint said.
About a half hour later, Rynders dropped the children off at Friendship Academy, a Minneapolis charter school.
Rynders spoke with investigators and admitted to hearing a noise, but said “he didn’t think he hit anyone.”
Rynders is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 24.
