Repeat Offender Returns to Tennessee Jail on Domestic Violence Charges Following School Bus Tragedy Conviction

A 34-year-old Tennessee man with a history of serious criminal convictions was booked into a Nashville jail facility on Monday following allegations of domestic violence, according to Davidson County Sheriff’s Office records released Wednesday. Johnthony Walker now faces seven charges stemming from the incident, including aggravated assault by strangulation, aggravated burglary, child abuse, interference with an emergency call, and three counts related to sex-offender violations.

Walker’s arrest marks another chapter in a troubling criminal history that includes a 2016 school bus crash while he was employed as a driver for a Chattanooga school district. Operating at excessive speeds on an unauthorized route, Walker lost control of the bus carrying elementary school students, striking a mailbox and telephone pole before the vehicle overturned and collided with a tree. The crash killed six children and injured dozens of others.

In 2018, Walker was convicted of negligent homicide in connection with the crash and sentenced to four years in prison. Two years later, he pleaded guilty to rape in Davidson County and received an additional six years and one month in prison, to be served consecutively, along with a mandatory sex-offender registration requirement.