Bradenton, Florida -- Video taken aboard the bus involved in Thursday's crash shows students desperately and repeatedly try to warn 68-year-old Charles Orr that he was about to collide with a semi.
Photo Gallery: School bus crash accident scene pictures
Yet there were no skid marks, and school officials say no indication that he ever tried to stop.
Don Ross, Director of Vehicle Maintenance for the Manatee School District, says the GPS device on the bus indicates Orr was still moving at a good pace, but less than 34 miles an hour.
"The last reading we had on the GPS, it gives pulses every 30 seconds." said Ross, "The last pulse we had is he was 34 miles per hour."
Manatee school officials say Orr was a substitute driver, and therefore was not guaranteed a due-process procedure as full-time drivers would be.
After reviewing the video, they immediately fired him. The images, they say, show Orr was distracted as he tried to pass a written conduct warning back to one of the students aboard the bus, while the vehicle was still in motion. The video shows him taking his hand off the wheel and his eyes off the road.
Tim McGonegal, Manatee Schools Superintendent described what they saw as they reviewed the video.
"The driver's actually looking forward and in the mirror, forward and in the mirror, and with this hand he actually puts a small form, a piece of paper, over his head," said McGonegal.
After impact, the video also shows Orr's legs are pinned by the bus' crumpled dashboard.
Unable to press the brake pedal, he can't keep the vehicle from rolling.
"I can't get the damn thing stopped!" he yells out.
The students, again start screaming, begging him, "Stop the bus! Oh! Stop the bus!"
Some of the students then panic, jumping through an emergency door while the vehicle is still rolling. A voice can be heard saying there's a fuel leak, but school officials say the bus' 100 gallon tank was never ruptured.
Workers from a nearby car wash who heard the impact then sprung into action.
On the video, you can see one of them, identified by the Florida Highway Patrol as Sam Long, jumping on the bus while it's still moving, and helping to finally bring it to a stop.
Orr cries out in agony as they try to move the steering wheel lodged against his legs.
We tried to contact Mr. Orr at his home in Palmetto, but no one answered the door.
FHP investigators who interviewed him shortly after the accident and say there's no reason to believe he was drunk.
FHP Lt. Chris Miller says the trooper who worked the accident indicated "there are no signs of impairment."
School officials who also spoke with the 68-year-old Orr at the hospital say he was clearly sorry for what had happened.
"He is injured, and he just expressed to us his remorse," said McGonegal.
In all, school officials say 23 students sought medical attention.
The Manatee school district has already publicly accepted responsibility for the accident, and workers say they are in the process of contacting the injured students' families to pay any medical expenses related to the crash.