SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A former Granite School District bus driver entered a guilty plea to setting a school bus on fire while driving through traffic.
Michael Austin Ford, 60, of West Valley City, was originally indicted in February 2024 for two counts of arson of a vehicle of an organization receiving federal funds.
April 2023 surveillance video from inside the bus reportedly showed Ford using a lighter to ignite the fire before continuing to drive with smoke blowing past him. Prosecutors later found evidence that Ford had attempted to tamper with the bus’s surveillance system in the days leading up to the arson.
MORE | School Bus Fire
Ford was also accused of a similar incident from February 2022, where he started a school bus fire while there were 42 students on board…