HOUSTON – Days before a church bus carrying 16 people flipped over, neighbors in Castilian Village Townhomes said they complained to Mount Zion Baptist Church about what they called “reckless driving.”
Before the crash, one of the neighbors said they shot a video of the driver of the small bus speeding off.
“I saw him fly in here, and I thought, ‘This ain’t going to happen,” said the resident, Mary.
Neighbors said the speeding caused them to make several complaints.
“This has been going on for two weeks,” Alvin Collins, HOA President of Castilian Village Townhomes, said.
Neighbors said when they mentioned the bus, which belongs to Mount Zion Baptist Church, to the pastor, they felt like their concerns were not properly addressed.
“I felt like he blew me off,” Mary said. “He didn’t take me seriously.”
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said on Sunday evening, the driver of the Mount Zion Baptist Church bus sped around a curb at an apartment complex on Uvalde Road near Wallisville Road, causing the bus to flip with 16 people on board, including 13 children ranging from ages 1 to 16 years old.
“My whole point of view, it could have been avoided,” Collins said.
The 42-year-old driver has not been charged and HCSO says they did not show signs of intoxication.
Pastor Jared Zapata said the volunteer driver will no longer drive for the church.
Pastor Zapata sent the following statement to KPRC 2 News regarding the incident:
“We appreciate everyone’s prayers as we ended the evening with no major injuries, the majority are returning home that same day, and I visited and prayed with the kids, expressing our continued love and support to the families. We, of course, will be checking in on everyone throughout the week as we pray for quick recoveries.”
Pastor Zapata went on to say the bus is used to help people in need of transportation to get to and from the church. He now says they are reevaluating the service.