The driver of a school bus who fatally struck a 12-year-old in Rockland last November has been charged with manslaughter.
Jeffery Colburn, 65, of Camden, was arrested after being indicted by a grand jury, the Rockland Police Department announced Thursday evening.
The fatal incident happened on Nov. 21, 2025. Colburn had stopped the Regional School Unit 13 bus he was driving on Broadway at the intersection of Eliza Steele Drive.
Twelve-year-old Brayden Callahan was in the marked crosswalk when Colburn accelerated, according to a police report. The front passenger side tire of the bus ran over the child, followed by the twin rear passenger tires.
The police report said it appeared from an onboard bus video that Colburn had been leaning far to the right and had not kept his eyes on the road. The video showed that the front crossing arm was no longer extended.
Colburn told police he did not see Callahan.
Colburn had a prior conviction in 2015 for operating under the influence, but police said there was no indication that he was under the influence at the time of the fatal incident last November.
A report later noted that Colburn had taken a field sobriety test and had blood drawn as is standard in a fatal crash. At the time of the report in November, results of that test were pending.
The superintendent of RSU 13 announced in early December 2025 that Colburn no longer worked for the district, and the school bus he had been driving was decommissioned.
Later in December the Callahan family retained a law firm as legal counsel in the matter of Shane Callahan & Kelley Morse v. Regional School Unit 13 and Jeffrey Colburn.
Callahan was the first of two children killed by Maine school buses within the span of a month last year.
On Dec. 16, 2025, a kindergartener in Standish got his arm stuck in a closing school bus door and was dragged and ultimately run over by the bus.
