Survivors of the worst drunk driving accident in the history of the United States will relive the horrific fiery bus accident on May 14th, the 25th anniversary of the Carroll County bus accident, when a documentary about the accident is released in an Elizabethtown movie theatre.
The documentary, called Impact: After the Crash, contains re-enactments of the tragic accident, which left 27 of the 67 people on board dead on May 14th, 1988. The 80 minute film has been made in order to honor the lives of those who died and those who survived, and to remind the country of the importance of not drinking and driving.
The film has been directed by a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, Jason Epperson, who currently resides in Clark County. Epperson reminded the press that today, 25 years after this tragedy, 27 people are killed each day across the country as a result of drunk driving.
Harold Dennis, one of the survivors of the accident, has been working with Epperson to ensure that the film remains true to the facts of the accident. At 11pm on the night of May 14th, a bus carrying 67 members of the Radcliff Assembly of God was travelling along the Interstate 71 in Carroll County, when a drunk factory worker, Larry Mahoney, veered into the path of the bus in his pickup truck. Mahoney had been drinking all day when he veered into oncoming traffic on the southbound lane of the interstate and collided with the bus, causing the bus’s 60 gallon fuel tank to explode.
27 people were killed in the collision, with dozens more passengers, including Dennis, sustaining serious injuries and disfiguring burns. Dennis was 14 years old at the time, and lost his childhood best friend in the inferno.
37 year old Epperson runs the Lexington-based film company Eppic Films, and has received critical acclaim from the film industry for his previous directing work. He was chosen by legendary director Steven Spielberg to participate in a reality show known as On the Lot in 2007, which was aimed at discovering talented new directors.
Impact is the second documentary that Epperson has directed, after Envisioning Home, a film about housing difficulties in St Louis. Impact draws mostly on interviews with survivors of the accident and family members of those who died, as well as the law enforcement officers and first responders who were present at the accident scene.