DA: Bus driver who killed 12 in Indiana crash used cocaine

GREENFIELD, Ind. -- A church bus driver has been charged with using cocaine before a crash near Indianapolis in July that killed 12 people, including a 6-year-old boy.

After blood test results showed signs of cocaine use, Hancock County prosecutors this week charged Charles Goodman, 54, with causing death when driving while intoxicated under the influence of a controlled substance.

Goodman, of Chicago, was driving a church group from Gary, about 30 miles south of Chicago, to a religious convention in Ohio on July 28. He lost control of the 15-passenger bus, which overturned on Interstate 70.

County Prosecutor Brent Eaton said investigators suspected Goodman was intoxicated because a passenger said he seemed unfocused while driving.

"At the time the blood draw was taken, we knew it was a possibility," Eaton told the Greenfield Daily Reporter.

Goodman is also charged with reckless homicide and driving with a suspended license. He suffered a broken arm and a fractured jaw and has been jailed since he was released from a hospital the week following the crash.

Goodman has said the bus had suspension and power steering problems. Inspections of the vehicle found no mechanical issues that would have caused the crash, according to court documents.

The crash killed 6-year-old Jacob Williams of Gary. Jacob's family is claiming wrongful death and negligence in a lawsuit.

Jacob's father and 8-year-old brother were injured in the crash, while his 14-year-old sister witnessed the crash from a vehicle traveling behind the bus, according to the suit, which names Goodman and Lois Hill, who owns the bus and is bishop of the St. Jude Deliverance Center. It claims unspecified damages from both, the Merrillville Post-Tribune reported.

Tony Walker, an attorney for Jacob's mother Florine Williams-Clark, said Hill bought the van a week before the crash and had offered rides to church members heading to the conference.