Cafeteria worker speeds past school bus and slams into student, Texas cops say

A woman in Texas could face 20 years in jail after police say she sped past a school bus and hit a student on Wednesday.

Chinyere Iheagwam, a 56-year-old cafeteria worker at Alief Independent School District in Houston, had just left work when surveillance video captured her speeding past a school bus, KHOU reported. Prosecutors say she was going between 45 and 50 mph.

Iheagwam’s vehicle slammed into a student identified as Anthony Velasquez, 18, KTRK reported. Prosecutors say a witness saw Valesquez “go up in the air after the impact,” KHOU reported.

Velasquez is in critical condition, according to KPRC. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help with medical expenses.

Prosecutors say Iheagwam initially “told police she knew the speed limit” was 20 mph and that she was only driving 16 mph, KHOU reported, something prosecutors refute.

“For someone who is there every day and knows exactly what the students do at 2:30 in the afternoon, to be driving like that in that lane at that speed, it defines reckless,” prosecutor Sean Teare told KTRK.

Iheagwam was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, KPRC reported. She posted her $30,000 bond on Thursday and appeared back in court on Monday where a judge added two bond conditions: that Iheagwam be subject to random drug and alcohol screenings and that she not drive, KPRC reported.

“The evidence will show what happened,” Iheagwam’s defense attorney David Rushing told KPRC. “My client has a presumption of innocence, so she is going to get a fair shake.”

Classmates of Velasquez say Iheagwam should have been more careful.

“She should have been more aware, to be honest,” one student told KTRK. “She knows we’re on a school campus, she should know that school should end at this time.”