Semi Driver in Chi-Hi Band Bus Crash Faces New Charges

The man driving the semi in the Chippewa Falls High School marching band bus crash is facing 12 new federal charges for falsifying his driver's log.
25-year-old Michael Kozlowski of Indiana faces the charges after federal investigators say he failed to record all of his daily activities. Kozlowski faces 60 years in prison if convicted of all counts.
Federal prosecutors say Kozlowski illegally falsified his sleeper berth time 12 times to show that he slept for 10 hours.
Press Release from the U.S. Attorney's Office:
Michael J. Kozlowski, 25, of Schereville, Indiana, a commercial motor vehicle driver, is charged with falsifying his driver’s log. Federal regulations required that CMV drivers, in order to comply with limitations regarding the hours a commercial driver can operate his vehicle, must record all daily activities, including the driving time of each driver. The indictment alleges that Kozlowski falsely entered 10 hours of sleeper berth time on 12 separate occasions in August, September and October 2005.
If convicted, Kozlowski faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison on each count charged. The charges against him are the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General. The prosecution of Kozlowski has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul W. Connell.
From WEAU's previous coverage of Kozlowski:
The Wisconsin State Patrol responded to the crash shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday October 16, 2005. Troopers say Kozlowski’s semi swerved, tried to correct itself, and then jackknifed ahead of the oncoming bus.
Investigators said bus driver did not have any time to react to the semi. A 7-mile stretch of I-94 was closed down for more than 10 hours in both directions while emergency workers cleared and investigated the scene.
The bus involved in the crash was the first of the four traveling westbound on Interstate 94, about 5 miles west of the Osseo exit, when it hit a jack-knifed semi truck just after 2 a.m. 5 people were killed. 4 of them died instantly during the crash and 1 other died while in medical care.
29 others were injured during the crash. 4 Chi-Hi students and 3 chaperones were critically injured but later upgraded to stable condition.
78-year-old Paul Rasmus of Chippewa Falls was the driver of the bus. He was killed along with 48-year-old Doug Greenhalgh, who was the high school's band director. His wife, 51-year-old Therese Greenhalgh, their granddaughter, 11-year-old Morgan Greenhalgh, and 24-year-old Brandon Atherton who was a senior at UW-Eau Claire. The music education major and Waukesha native had been doing his student teaching in Chippewa Falls.
A jury found Michael Kozlowski not guilty in April 2007 of all 33 charges against him in connection with the fatal crash.
When the dozens of victims and their families and friends filed quickly out of the courtroom, they were just as quiet. Not one wanted to comment.
One person who did want to talk was Defense Attorney Earl Gray. He says the fast decision is telling.
"It's a very quick verdict, especially that I have seen in a complex case like this,” Gray said shortly after the verdicts were read. "It's like I said from the beginning, Mr. Kozlowski was clearly innocent from the get-go."
District Attorney Rich White says he hopes the trial, even without a guilty verdict, brings some closure to people in Chippewa Falls.
"What I told them was they shouldn't consider feeling what they feel about what happened that night to be changed by what happened here," White said.
Monday, It took just about the same amount of time for jury instructions and closing arguments as it did for the jury to make its decision.