Driver In Fatal Bus Stop Crash Appears In Court Today

November 15, 2018 at 5:10 p.m.
Driver In Fatal Bus Stop Crash Appears In Court Today
Driver In Fatal Bus Stop Crash Appears In Court Today

By Staff Report-

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct who entered the preliminary plea.

ROCHESTER – The woman accused of killing three children in a bus stop crash was in court today, where a judge entered a preliminary not guilty plea on her behalf.

Alyssa Shepherd, 24, appeared this morning for her initial hearing, on three counts of reckless homicide and one count of passing a stopped school bus resulting in injury, before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wayne Steele.

Times-Union news partner WSBT channel 22 reported Shepherd is accused of speeding past a bus stop arm, hitting four children and killing three of them: 9-year-old Alivia Stahl and twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle, 6.

The fourth victim, Maverik Lowe, 11, is recovering in a Fort Wayne hospital.

The reckless homicide charges she faces have a sentence of one to six years. The charge of passing a stopped school bus resulting in injury has a sentence of up to one year.

The crash happened Oct. 30 just outside of Rochester.

Michael Stahl, the father of Alivia, told WSBT’s Katlin Connin this morning he’s mourning the loss of his daughter but he has hope in the justice system. He says that threats against Shepherd’s family need to stop.

“Myself, personally, I beg of you don’t do that,” Michael Stahl said. “It’s not helping the situation. It doesn’t help the prosecutors. It doesn’t help the justice system. It doesn’t help us. And it doesn’t do my daughter justice or the other people who are affected by this.”

He told WSBT that today — and the rest of the court process — is one of the hardest things he’s had to deal with.

The only thing that’s been harder was the funeral of his daughter and the twins.

Shepherd’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct who entered the preliminary plea.

ROCHESTER – The woman accused of killing three children in a bus stop crash was in court today, where a judge entered a preliminary not guilty plea on her behalf.

Alyssa Shepherd, 24, appeared this morning for her initial hearing, on three counts of reckless homicide and one count of passing a stopped school bus resulting in injury, before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wayne Steele.

Times-Union news partner WSBT channel 22 reported Shepherd is accused of speeding past a bus stop arm, hitting four children and killing three of them: 9-year-old Alivia Stahl and twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle, 6.

The fourth victim, Maverik Lowe, 11, is recovering in a Fort Wayne hospital.

The reckless homicide charges she faces have a sentence of one to six years. The charge of passing a stopped school bus resulting in injury has a sentence of up to one year.

The crash happened Oct. 30 just outside of Rochester.

Michael Stahl, the father of Alivia, told WSBT’s Katlin Connin this morning he’s mourning the loss of his daughter but he has hope in the justice system. He says that threats against Shepherd’s family need to stop.

“Myself, personally, I beg of you don’t do that,” Michael Stahl said. “It’s not helping the situation. It doesn’t help the prosecutors. It doesn’t help the justice system. It doesn’t help us. And it doesn’t do my daughter justice or the other people who are affected by this.”

He told WSBT that today — and the rest of the court process — is one of the hardest things he’s had to deal with.

The only thing that’s been harder was the funeral of his daughter and the twins.

Shepherd’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.

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