A 24-year-old school bus driver facing felony charges for hiding his medical condition to his employer passed out behind the wheel and crashed last year, injuring five students in Anaheim Hills, prosecutors said.
Gerald Douglas Rupple, 25, of Ajo, Arizona, is charged with one felony count each of child abuse and endangerment, perjury by declaration, and a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
In a CHP report released Friday, Rupple allegedly told investigators he blacked out after not feeling well.
"The heat probably got to me," he said, according to the report.
He was arrested Thursday in Arizona in connection with the April 24, 2014 crash. The bus was full of seventh and eighth graders from El Rancho Middle School leaving an after-school event.
He is being held in an Arizona jail on $100,000 bail.
If convicted, he faces up to 19 years in state prison.
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The Orange Unified School District bus crashed while going about 50 mph, causing the school bus to veer off the road and crash into several trees.
Four students suffered major injuries including fractured bones, intracranial hemorrhaging, a shattered spine, and amputation of a toe.
At the time of the crash, the suspect is accused of having a medical condition that causes dizziness, seizures, and blackouts.
He is accused of not disclosing his medical history to the OUSD knowing that it would negatively affect his employment, prosecutors said.
Rupple is accused of not disclosing his medical condition to the physician conducting his required commercial driver fitness examination and falsely declaring under penalty of perjury that his medical history was accurate, prosecutors said.
