The case involving driver Joseph Graham Padgett Jr. was officially disposed of in 2023, and here’s what he was charged with.
Renewed interest in school bus footage showing two kids nearly getting hit by a reckless driver on Old Mountain Rd. in Statesville has people asking, what became of the man responsible for the near miss.
The driver was identified as Joseph Graham Padgett Jr. and, not only was he arrested and his Kia Soul seized shortly after, but three months after the incident, Padgett Jr. appeared before a judge, had his case heard, and was officially charged before the case was disposed (officially closed.)
Here’s the dashcam footage and news article (linked here) to jog your memory.
As of this writing, the official case and the results are publicly available via Iredell District Court court records, Case No. 23CR248815-480 (linked here.)
I’ve also uploaded a PDF of the court case on my site (linked here.)
Court records show that on June 8, 2023, the case was officially disposed. Padgett pled guilty to one charge: failure to stop for a stopped school bus, a Class 1 misdemeanor under North Carolina law. The remaining charges, reckless driving, driving while license revoked (not impaired), and unsafe passing, were all dismissed without leave by the district attorney, meaning they cannot be refiled. The school bus violation became the lead offense, and the case was consolidated accordingly.
While sentencing details are not fully spelled out in the public docket, the likely outcome is fairly clear under North Carolina law. A conviction for passing a stopped school bus typically carries a fine of around $500, plus court costs, and results in 5 driver’s license points. In many cases, it also triggers a mandatory license suspension (often up to one year), depending on prior record and judicial discretion. (law.justicia.com)
In short, despite multiple charges being dropped, Padgett was still formally convicted for the most serious and easily provable offense tied to the incident caught on camera.
