A former Salt Lake County, Utah school bus driver was ordered to remain in jail without bond for allegedly setting a school bus on fire on at least two occasions including once with 42 children onboard.
A grand jury indicted 58-year-old Michael Austin on two counts of arson after he allegedly set fire to a school bus during his years as a bus driver with the Granite School District.
Prosecutors allege that in February 2022, Ford set the bus ablaze with 42 children on board and kept driving “with smoke billowing past his face.”
“Undeterred by the smoke, the Defendant only stops the bus when children are seen and heard on video coughing, covering their faces and complaining about smoke.”
A similar incident involving Ford occurred in April 2023 but it was unclear whether children were on the bus at the time.
Ford admitted to starting fires in three other buses in 2016, 2017, and “around 2001 or 2002.”
Two additional blazes have reportedly erupted at Ford’s home and in his car in October 2023, prosecutors said.
