Suspect in bus barn burning identified

Mountain View Police have identified the semi-truck driver who caused the fire that burned the school district's bus barn down. Sarabjt Singh, an employee of Fresno, CA-based BTS Transport, has been identified as the driver. 

The fire that consumed the bus barn ignited in the early morning hours of Oct. 20 when Singh attempted a U-turn in the parking lot. As observed on surveillance footage, the top of the truck dragged down an electrical wire. Shooting sparks caught the building on fire. 

By the time firefighters were on scene, the bus barn was fully engulfed. The building was a total loss, but the district's buses were not inside. School took place on schedule later that morning.

The investigation, conducted by the Mountain View Police Department, identified the driver's employer by Oct. 21. Contact with the employer revealed no additional information, according to police records. The administration at BTS Transport was reportedly unaware Singh had been in a crash or caused a fire. Singh himself contacted the station to make a statement by phone on Oct. 31. Corporal Trenton Roberts took Singh's statement over the phone with the help of an interpreter. In this statement, Singh confirmed that he did see sparks and was aware that he had hit an electrical wire as he attempted to make a U-turn that night in Mountain View. However, he said he did not see the bus barn catch fire. He was made aware that the building burned down at a later date.

Through his interpreter, Singh told police that he failed to report knocking down the wire because he was, "scared and nervous." Instead, he "decided to just drive off."

As of press time, formal charges have not been filed.