Watch: Driver charged with nearly hitting stopped school bus on snowy Minnesota highway

An Iron Range man was charged Friday with disobeying a stopped school bus’ warning signals and nearly causing a crash on a snowy Minnesota country road.

Keith Douglas Bargel, 60, was charged with failing to stop while passing a school bus on the passenger exit side, a gross misdemeanor, and misdemeanor property damage in connection with a mailbox he took out on Dec. 20 while avoiding the collision on Hwy. 169 near Virginia.

Bargel, of Tower, was charged by summons in St. Louis County District Court and has a court hearing scheduled for May 23.

“I tried to stop,” Bargel told the Star Tribune, “but there was a [metal] coffee cup stuck underneath my brake pedal. I’ve driven trucks my whole life and never heard of that happening.”

He also pointed out that the pavement was somewhat slick at the time and acknowledged that he should not have had his cruise control engaged in those weather conditions.

Court records in Minnesota show that Bargel’s driving history includes three convictions for drunken driving and three for driving with a canceled or revoked license. His license was valid at the time of the close call.

This was at least the third harrowing incident in Minnesota involving a school bus in a a little more than a year.

According to the charges against Bargel:

A Mountain Iron Buhl School bus was pointed south on Hwy. 169 about 3:30 p.m., when it stopped to drop off off a student. The truck passed the bus on the snowy right shoulder, struck a mailbox and kept going.

The principal of Mountain Iron Buhl School notified the State Patrol about the incident that afternoon.

Three days later, Bargel told the the State Patrol that he was the driver who passed the bus and “admitted to seeing the flashing lights, and stated he was not able to stop for the bus,” the charges read.

Bargel said he was on the way to the Twin Cities and had his cruise control set at 50 miles per hour.

When the patrol asked him about the damaged mailbox, Bargel replied that he thought he hit a tree branch.

On Feb. 5, an Onamia School District bus driver in Mille Lacs County dodged a head-on crash with a semitrailer truck that crossed into the wrong lane in Kathio Township on Hwy. 169. Two students among the eight people on board were evaluated for minor injuries suffered when the semi sideswiped the bus.

The trucker, David Garrett, 54, of Racine, Wis., was issued a ticket for failure to drive with due care.

On Dec. 21, 2023, a pickup driver nearly hit two siblings with her pickup truck after the Willow River School District students got off a school bus in east-central Minnesota as their waiting mother watched in horror.

Brianna C. Johnson, 29, of Willow River, Minn., had a one-year jail sentence set aside in Pine County District Court and was put on probation for two years in connection with the incident near Willow River.