BROOKLYN PARK, Minn — A 35-year-old man from Big Lake was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Monday for hitting and killing a woman while he was driving a school bus in 2020.
Jason Rynders was charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide in connection to the fatal crash, which killed 45-year-old Devon Lizbeth Doherty, of Brooklyn Park.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, a man called police around 6:45 a.m. on March 16, 2020 to report that he saw a bus parked on the side of the road, then felt a bump under his car. The man saw that he hit a woman, and when he yelled at the bus driver, identified later as Rynders, to call 911, Rynders got back into the bus and drove away.
Video footage from the bus and doorbell cameras captured Rynders hitting Doherty. Rynders was also seen on camera stopping the bus, running toward the crash and then running back into the bus without calling 911.
The state asked for a 48-month sentence for Rynders, while his defense team asked Hennepin County Judge William Koch for probation. Judge Koch handed down the 41-month sentence because evidence shared by the state proved Rynders knew he hit the victim and still fled the scene.
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