Image Source: Flickr
BY KERRY LEARY
ANCHOR JIM FLINK
The wheels on the bus WERE going ‘round and ‘round on Tuesday- but they shouldn’t have been. A school bus driver was arrested with a blood alcohol content of allegedly .25 - five times the legal limit for driving a commercial vehicle. Here’s WCAU.
DOMINIC: “Mommy, I think our bus driver is drunk. She’s not driving right.
REPORTER: This is the terrifying text message that Nicole Rodrigues got from her 12-year-old son, Dominic.
DOMINIC: People were yelling, ‘I don’t want to die today.’
REPORTER: He and his younger brother Chauncey were among the 25 Westhampton Township Middle School students on the school bus Tuesday afternoon.
CHAUNCEY: I was about to have a heart attack.”
WPVI reports the frantic text messages from students on board led to parents calling the school, who called the police, who found her at an elementary school- picking up more students. And parents are not happy.
“My kid, you know, she could have died on that bus. The driver could have lost control, blanked out, all those kids on the bus, you know, innocent kids coming home from school- and here she is, drunk.”
She was immediately arrested and, apparently it didn’t turn out too well for the driver, according to the Gothamist.
“A New Jersey bus driver probably is looking for a new job after...police...charged her with 25 counts of driving under the influence with a minor, driving under the influence on school property, disorderly conduct and another 25 counts of endangering the welfare of a child for good measure.”
According to the Superintendent of the school district, the allegedly hammered bus driver was fired. A writer for Gather says the school district was lucky no one was hurt.
“How could these school officials allow so many children to be put in danger while turning a blind eye. If this was 20 years ago and not 2011, these kids wouldn't have had cell phones to call their parents. Who knows what could've happened then?”
The bus driver was released after posting $85,000 bail. She is due back in court November 17.
Transcript by Newsy.
