HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Sabrina Ducksworth appeared in a courtroom for the first time Monday morning, nearly seven months after the Clarksville-Montgomery County school bus she was driving crashed head-on into a dump truck, killing two middle school students.
Ducksworth pleaded not guilty to the two charges she was indicted on last month — failure to exercise due care and driving on roadways laned for traffic.
She told the court she could not afford an attorney, and Circuit Court Judge Brent Bradberry appointed her a public defender.
She’s due back in court November 16.
The grand jury had also considered a vehicular homicide charge but returned a “no true bill” on that count, declining to indict her on it.
Ducksworth was driving a bus carrying 24 Kenwood Middle School students and four adults on March 27 when it crossed the center line on Highway 70 and collided with an oncoming dump truck and SUV. The group was headed to Jackson for a school field trip tied to a Greenpower USA racing event. Two students, Zoe Davis and Arianna Pearson, were killed. Ducksworth and several others were injured and taken to area hospitals.
Parents driving behind the bus told investigators they’d seen Ducksworth swerving in and out of her lane in the minutes before the crash.