Crime & Public Safety
Crime & Public Safety

$21K bond for bus driver charged in crash that killed Cobb brothers

James Pratt (left) and Joe Pratt were JROTC members and volunteered at a local elementary school. The brothers were killed in an April 24 crash. (Photo: Cobb County schools)
James Pratt (left) and Joe Pratt were JROTC members and volunteered at a local elementary school. The brothers were killed in an April 24 crash. (Photo: Cobb County schools)
By
May 9, 2017

The Fulton County school bus driver charged in a crash that killed two teenage brothers was granted $21,000 bond in court Tuesday morning.

Charles Talmadge Pitts was charged with two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide and a stop sign violation following the April 24 crash that killed James, 18, and Joseph Pratt, 14. All of the charges are misdemeanors. Pitts must also surrender his passport as a condition of his bond.

The brothers attended Lassiter High School and were on their way to a dentist appointment when police say their car crashed into a special-needs bus in Roswell. Late last week, Pitts was charged in the crash and he surrendered Monday.

In court Tuesday, an attorney for Pitts said the brothers were speeding and on their cell phones at the time of the crash, Channel 2 Action News reported. Pitts waived his probable cause hearing and his case will be transferred to state court.

— Please return for updates.

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