JCPS and Pollio sued for allegedly failing to comply with drug testing guidelines after bus crash

A Louisville woman is suing Jefferson County Public Schools bus driver and superintendent Marty Pollio, claiming they hired the driver despite his criminal past and failed to drug test him after a serious accident.

Kimberly Petty's vehicle was struck by a JCPS bus in September 2023 after Aaron Helton allegedly ran a red light, resulting in fractures to her neck, shoulder, forearm and pelvis, according to the lawsuit filed in February.

The lawsuit originally named only Helton, but this week Petty's attorney, James Bolus, filed a motion to include Pollio after discovering that Helton was convicted in 2019 of conspiracy to deliver 25 pounds of marijuana in Wyoming. The conviction followed a March 2018 traffic stop that led to a search of the vehicle driven by Helton. He was hired by JCPS in November 2018.

The district, the lawsuit alleges, did not conduct a statewide criminal background check and did not subject Helton to drug and alcohol testing after the accident that seriously injured Petty. During a trial, Helton testified that he was not tested after that accident, nor after several previous accidents he was involved in as a JCPS bus driver.

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“Dr. Pollio had a responsibility to ensure that JCPS bus drivers were fully vetted and held accountable,” Bolus said in a press release. “His failure to do so resulted in a convicted drug felon driving children to school and nearly killing my client in the process… We will hold Dr. Pollio and the JCPS accountable for their negligence, and the public has a right to know how this disaster occurred.”

District policy requires drug and alcohol testing after accidents, although it is unclear whether Helton's drug conviction is an immediate disqualification from employment. The policy states that drug offenses can prevent a person from being hired if “the Superintendent determines that they are reasonably related to the person's ability to do the job.”

State policies and laws require statewide background checks on all district employees.

JCPS did not immediately respond to several questions about the lawsuit, including whether the district knew about Helton's drug offenses or that he was not tested after at least five bus crashes.

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The lawsuit seeks punitive damages for the “individual and collective negligent and reckless conduct” of Pollio and the district, which caused Petty “severe and permanent physical and mental harm” and resulted in medical expenses and lost wages.

This is the second time Bolus has represented a client who was injured by a JCPS bus in an accident in which the driver did not submit to a drug test afterward. Bolus sued the district's insurance company in 2015 after an elementary school student was dragged by a JCPS bus for nearly a minute before the driver stopped the bus. After nearly seven years of litigation, the student's family received $4.8 million in a cash settlement.

Contact Krista Johnson at [email protected].

This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS and Pollio sued for ignoring drug testing rules during hiring