School Bus Driver gets DUI with Kids on Bus

Dui School Bus A school bus driver was charged with driving under the influence after her vehicle with 30 children inside was found stopped in the middle of a street.

by The Associated Press

Published: Tue, September 30, 2008 - 11:28 pm CST

An East Tennessee school bus driver was charged with driving under the influence after her vehicle with 30 children inside was found stopped in the middle of a street.

Loudon Police Chief James Webb said 48-year-old Vicky Lynn Kwasny was found passed out behind the wheel Tuesday around 8 a.m. Webb said a blood alcohol test was administered but the results were not immediately available.

The Loudon County Emergency Management Agency noticed the bus stopped for an extended time, Webb said, and police were notified. No one was hurt.

Wayne Honeycutt, director of schools, said Kwasny has been a contract driver since last November with a clean record. He said she has had a background check and passed two drug screenings.

Honeycutt said an estimated 30 students were on the bus, 18 of them high school students and the rest from middle school or younger.

"I'm sure the younger kids were upset, especially when they saw their driver sick," he said.

Kwasny was taken to a hospital and then jailed where she remained Tuesday evening. A jail spokesman said there was no record that she had hired an attorney.

Honeycutt said Tuesday evening he did not know if she had an attorney, and school officials were hoping to talk to her in jail.

She will not drive any more until the school completes an investigation, Honeycutt said.

The students on the bus took another bus to school or were transported by parents.

© 2008 The Associated Press

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engtchr Says:

Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Webb said the blood alcohol level wasn’t available, not that he didn’t know it. There may be a way to tell that the level is in excess of the limit without immediately giving the exact extent to which it is.

The high school children didn’t wake him up for the same reason they don’t break up fights when they see them at school. To them, it’s a diversion from the humdrum of school life.

KxVicious Says:

Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 11:08 am

How was he charged with a DUI if they admittedly don’t know his BAC?

Maybe he had a STROKE like that other guy?

Maybe he was just SICK like the director said?

Why did the high school children not wake him up?

A lot of unanswered questions in this one.

Mom2AngelBaby Says:

Wed, Oct 01, 2008 at 8:51 am

Oh my! I’m a bus driver here in Mobile and wouldn’t dare drink before boarding with my students. Those kids are like my own and I wouldn’t dare put them in harm. How dare this woman do this to someone else’s child. What are people thinking these days, obviously there not!