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Jury: School district must pay crash victim’s family $1.2M

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October 30th, 2018 by Ric Hanson

ELKADER, Iowa (AP) — A jury says a northeast Iowa school district must pay $1.2 million in damages to the family of a motorcyclist killed in a fatal collision with a school bus. The Telegraph Herald reports that the Clayton County jury on Monday found the Clayton Ridge School District at fault. Authorities say 50-year-old Ronald Kephart, of Garnavillo, died after his motorcycle ran into the side of the bus as it turned left on Sept. 1, 2016, near Guttenberg. The driver was cited for failure to yield. None of the students on the bus was injured.

Kephart’s wife told the newspaper the verdict disappointed her, calling it “a slap in the face.” Amy Kephart says she realizes “no amount of money is going to be able to bring him back, but he did a lot for the family emotionally, financially, everything.”