The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) classifies MN 23 as a high-volume road and about 4,000 vehicles travel between the 15-mile stretch from Cottonwood to Marshall every day.

[4] The Lakeview Public School district includes students living in the communities of Cottonwood and nearby Wood Lake in two separate counties of southwestern Minnesota.

[7][8] A Plymouth Voyager minivan, driven by Olga Franco del Cid, was traveling eastbound on County Road 24 at around 50 mph when she drove through a stop sign at the intersection and struck the school bus on its passenger's side.

[11] According to the Minnesota State Patrol report, the roadway near the accident site is generally flat and the view from the approaches to the intersection on County Road 24 and Highway 23 were clear and unobstructed.

The first 9-1-1 call came in at 3:33 pm and the Lyon County Sheriff's Office immediately dispatched the Cottonwood Fire and Ambulance services to the crash.

Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement had believed that Franco del Cid was in the country illegally and that the name she gave authorities was not her true identity.

During the trial, the defense argued that Franco del Cid’s then-boyfriend, Francisco Sangabriel Mendoza, was driving the minivan that hit the school bus, and that the crash threw her toward the driver’s seat.

[21][22][23] Emergency responders said they found Franco del Cid at the scene behind the steering wheel, her right foot wedged under a crumpled dashboard near the accelerator, which directly contradicted the defense that her boyfriend was driving.

[25][26] After serving eight years of her prison sentence, she was released from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee on April 26, 2016 and was deported from the United States the following month, according to an ICE spokesperson.

[23] Three years after her deportation, she was arrested again at her home in Inver Grove Heights on November 29, 2019 after ICE officials acted on an anonymous tip that she re-entered the country illegally.

[27] Franco del Cid was then charged on December 13, 2019 with illegal reentry after removal, identification document fraud and false representation of Social Security number.