Culver woman pleads guilty in SUV crash into school bus in Redmond, faces 2-year prison term
Barney Lerten
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A Culver woman who ran a stop sign and crashed into the side of a small school bus in Redmond nearly two years ago has pleaded guilty to 17 charges, including DUII and third-degree assault, a month before she was due to go on trial.
Katrina Nicole Dacus, now 36, earlier pleaded not guilty to 26 charges, including numerous counts of reckless endangering and fourth-degree assault, filed after the March 22, 2024 crash on Highway 126 and SW Helmholtz Way in Redmond.
Dacus was at the wheel of an SUV that crashed into a Baker High School bus carrying 14 Baker County Future Farmers of America students, who were in Redmond for a state convention. Three students were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The charging document said Dacus was driving with a measured blood alcohol level of at least .15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit of .08.
The crash sent the school bus off the highway’s eastbound shoulder and into a ditch.
In the plea petition filed Monday, Dacus agreed to serve a two-year prison term, with a potential “good time” reduction, along with three years probation and a five-year suspension of her driver’s license, to begin upon release from prison.
Deschutes County Circuit Judge Raymond Crutchley accepted the guilty pleas at a hearing Thursday afternoon. The eight-day jury trial scheduled to begin March 31 was canceled. Dacus is due to be sentenced on April 13.