Driver sentenced to prison for fatal accident at school bus stop

Adam Kempf, a seventh-grade student at Coats-Erwin Middle School, was trying to board a bus on N.C. Highway 27 near Bill Avery Road on Oct. 25 when he was hit by a van and killed.

Fernando Ortiz-Soto swerved but couldn't avoid the boy, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

Ortiz-Soto pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of passing a stopped school bus resulting in death and a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license.

Superior Court Judge Winston Gilchrist sentenced him to between six and 17 months in prison, saying that his lack of prior criminal record precluded a longer sentence.