A bus driver who accumulated several traffic citations but was a no show in court for a year was sentenced today. Rudolph Hunt was issued a citation in September of last year for careless driving but he did not show up in court on the date of his hearing. After his initial ticket was issued, the court discovered the defendant had other tickets for careless driving. In one incident, his vehicle ran into a rock wall. In another he followed behind another vehicle too closely and bumped into the car in front of him. In the whole year where he failed to show up in court, the defendant accumulated 12 citations in total. District Court Judge Fiti Sunia told Hunt, “when you sign the citation issued to you it means that you are promising not only the officer that is present but also the court that you will show up. “Not only that but you are driving recklessly with people entrusting their lives to you when they board the bus” In an interesting twist, it was revealed in court proceedings that Hunt was in the territory under a special provision immigration status, also known as SP. This immigration status is usually granted for hard to fill positions such Accountants or Engineers, Judge sunia was interested to find out how the bus driver acquired this status. He said, “I want to know as to how this bus driver has a SP status on his immigration identification,” and added, “unless the bus drivers are getting SP status as well.” The judge also learned that the bus that the defendant was operating, which belongs to “Titanic” Company, was using a fake license plate. Hunt pleaded guilty to some of the citation while others were dismissed. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail but the sentence was suspended and he was put on probation for 6 months. He was also ordered to pay fines of $830 which accumulated during the year that he failed to show up in court.
