CEDAR CITY, Utah KYODO, (AP) The Japanese man charged with driving under the influence of a drug that led to a fatal bus accident in August made his first local court appearance Tuesday.
A judge told Yasushi Mikuni, a 26-year-old resident of Las Vegas, about the details of the charge, including 10 felony counts of negligent driving under the influence and a misdemeanor charge of having marijuana in his system. The court also scheduled a preliminary hearing for Jan. 26.
Injured passengers Kei Maeda and his wife, Mai, have filed a lawsuit against Mikuni, the bus company and two tour organizers — the first suit following the crash on a southern Utah highway that killed three tourists and injured 12 others.
Mikuni was arrested Sept. 21 and was subsequently charged by the Iron County Attorney's Office after marijuana was detected in his blood.
New allegations in the suit filed Friday at federal court in Salt Lake City say Mikuni had driven the bus for 11 hours the day before the crash, taking an empty bus from the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy to Las Vegas, then got less than seven hours of sleep. It also says he repeatedly dozed off and hit highway rumble strips and wasn't wearing eyeglasses as required by his driver license.