Band member: Bus driver braked before crash

Three passengers in the accident with the semitrailer testified Tuesday, as did a Wisconsin State Patrol inspector.

By Kevin Giles, Star Tribune

Last update: April 17, 2007 - 8:11 PM

HUDSON, WIS. - Ryan Burk, a Chippewa Falls High School band member, testified Tuesday that he felt driver Paul Rasmus hit the brakes seconds before their charter bus crashed into an overturned semitrailer, killing five people.

Indiana truck driver Michael J. Kozlowski, 24, is on trial in the deaths.

Burk, 16, said he awoke from a nap about 30 seconds before the crash, which occurred early on Oct. 16, 2005. He told prosecutor Richard White that he saw nothing unusual but heard some passengers cry out just beforehand.

"A few people said, 'Whoa!' Some people gave out a small shriek," Burk said.

The band member was one of three passengers questioned on the first day of testimony in the trial in St. Croix County Circuit Court.

The Chi-Hi Marching Cardinals were returning to Chippewa Falls from the state marching band finals at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater when the first of their four buses plowed into Kozlowski's overturned trailer, which was lying across the westbound lanes of Interstate Hwy. 94 near Osseo, Wis.

Kozlowski also is charged with seven felony counts of inflicting great bodily harm and 21 misdemeanor counts of causing injuries to other bus passengers. He was driving a load of produce to the Twin Cities when the crash occurred.

Band teacher Brian Collicott, who was riding in the first seat behind Rasmus, testified that he fell asleep after a video showing the band's third-place performance earlier that evening. He said it took rescuers about an hour to free him from the wreckage because his left leg was jammed under a seat.

White asked Collicott where the five people who died in the crash were sitting on the bus:

Doug and Therese Greenhalgh, 48 and 51 respectively, were in the front row on the passenger side; Morgan Greenhalgh, 11, their granddaughter, sat behind them, across the aisle from Collicott, and student-teacher Branden Atherton, 24, sat behind Collicott. Rasmus, 78, also was killed.

In cross-examination from defense attorney Earl Gray, Collicott said he didn't remember whether Rasmus was wearing his glasses while driving but said he'd seen Rasmus wear them on previous band trips.

Gray said in his opening statement Monday that he would show that Rasmus was at fault because he was too tired to drive, wasn't wearing his glasses as his driver's license required and had cataracts that diminished his night vision.

Much of Tuesday's testimony centered on Wisconsin State Patrol inspector William Berger's examination of Kozlowski's truck and a 160-question interview that Berger had with Kozlowski later that day.

In response to White's questions, Berger said he found the truck's cruise control in the "on" position. He also said it was illegal to pull a truck to the side of the freeway for a driver to urinate in the ditch, as Kozlowski told investigators he had intended to do before the trailer overturned.

Gray pressed Berger on why he had asked Kozlowski about his vision -- particularly about driving at night. Berger said those questions were important in investigating a fatal crash.

Kevin Giles • 612-673-7707 • kgiles@startribune.com

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