USA: Horror in a school in Tennessee. school bus driver asked kids if they were 'ready to die&#3

The Tennessee school bus driver charged in a wreck that killed five elementary school kids allegedly asked the students if they were “ready to die” as he raced down a narrow Chattanooga road, a parent said.

Johnthony Walker was speeding “well above” the posted speed limit and lost control of the bus before it flipped over and wrapped around a tree, police wrote in an arrest affidavit.

“My daughter said, right before the bus flipped, that he was speeding around the curb, and asked them, ‘are y’all ready to die?’” a mom, who had three children on the bus, told CBS News Radio. One of her three kids died in the wreck.

But Walker’s mom called the wreck a “drastic accident” — and insisted that her son tried to help the kids by pulling them off of the overturned bus.

"He was trying to get (the children) off the bus,” Gwenevere Cook, whom Walker called just minutes after the crash, told CNN. “All the bodies were limp.”Walker, 24, is charged with five counts of vehicular homicide for the deaths of five Woodmore Elementary School students: three fourth graders, a first grader and a kindergartner. None of the children — four girls and a boy — have been identified.

The 24-year-old driver also faces charges of reckless driving and reckless endangerment for the “reckless nature of Mr. Walker’s driving, combined with his very high speed,” according to the police report.

He is being held on a $107,500 bond.

Walker's mom described him as a responsible young man and a good dad to his 3-year-old son."He is a marvelous son. For two years he worked two jobs. He's never been in trouble before," she told CNN. "He is a respected young man."But parents said they have long had concerns about Walker’s driving. Craig Harris, a parent of two children who were on the bus, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the bus driver sometimes drove too fast."There has been times where I've seen him going a little faster than he probably should be going," Harris said. He said his daughter and stepson were in shock and pain after the crash.Walker was not employed by the school itself, but rather, he was an employee of Durham School Services, an outside contractor for district. He has no criminal record in Tennessee, state and local authorities said.Walker had an accident involving property damage in September, and his license was suspended for about a month in 2014 for failure to show proof of insurance, according to state commercial driver records.

Durham CEO David A. Duke issued a statement on Twitter saying the company was "devastated" by the accident and working with police and school officials to investigate.

Woodmore was open for classes Tuesday morning, and staffed extra consolers to support grieving students and staff, school officials said. Any student who chooses to stay home instead will be excused from class.

“Those who want to come to school, we want to reach out and help,” a school official said at a Tuesday morning press conference. “We’re going to help either way that we can.”

The five slain children — four girls and one boy — have not yet been identified.

Thirty-five students from kindergarten through fifth grade were on board when the bus flipped onto its side and wrapped around a tree Monday afternoon. The bus was the only vehicle involved in the crash, but Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said the scene was complicated and covered a significant area.

Emergency responders needed almost two hours to get all the children off the bus. More than 20 children were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Pablo Marin- THe Mariana DAngelo Editorial Group