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Drunk school bus driver

1K views 35 replies 22 participants last post by  Dirtbiker 
#1 ·
she blew a .226! and she drove a bus just fine! thanks crazy!

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/...r-drunk-while-returning-kids-from-school.html

A Mt. Prospect school bus driver who smelled of alcohol to a co-worker managed to drop off 50 children before she was arrested Tuesday for being nearly three times over the legal limit for alcohol, police said.

_busdriverthis100x125.jpgWhen he learned of the co-worker's suspicions, a transportation supervisor in Mt. Prospect School District 57 tracked down the driver and called police, but allowed her to continue on her route until authorities arrived, school officials said Wednesday.

Betty Burden, 54, of the 1400 block of Park Drive, was arrested after police received a call at about around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday from the supervisor, Vincente Ramirez.

School board President Joseph Leane said another driver had smelled alcohol on Burden's breath at about 2:30 p.m. but did not report it to Ramirez until 3:30 p.m.

Officials said Ramirez immediately set out and caught up with Burden along her route from Lions Park Elementary School,where she was scheduled to pick up students being released at 3:35 p.m.

Ramirez boarded the bus, but because he could not verify that she had been drinking, he followed Burden along her route and called police within 15 minutes, officials said.

"There were children on the bus during the time she was under the influence," Supt. Elaine Aumiller said. "Thank God nothing happened."

Aumiller said that, because of legal restrictions, Ramirez did not confront Burden or ask if she'd had been drinking. Because he could not smell alcohol or detect physical signs that she was intoxicated, he instead called police and followed her along her bus route, Aumiller said.

Aumiller stood behind Ramirez, calling it a "tough administrative call." She said Ramirez might have waited to call police until the children were off the bus "so they don't become witness to an arrest."

"It's such a delicate decision, to make an accusation of this nature against somebody," she said. "You have to have compelling evidence that it is there and it wasn't there for him."

During Burden's appearance in bond court Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Mark Javier said Ramirez observed Burden driving erratically, though school officials denied that.

Ramirez could not be reached for comment.

On Wednesday, Burden was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol because she was transporting passengers under the age of 18 at the time, officials said.

She has been suspended from the school district without pay. School officials will recommend that Burden be fired during the next school board meeting, Aumiller said.

Burden had been driving the children from Lions Park School to their bus stops on bus No. 11. It was empty by the time she was pulled over while traveling north on River Road, just north of Euclid Avenue, police said.

Police said they "immediately smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Burden's breath," noticed other physical signs of alcohol impairment and then administered field sobriety tests, which she failed.

Burden consented to a breath test, which registered her blood-alcohol level at .226 percent, officials said. The legal limit is .08 percent.

Burden admitted drinking vodka and orange juice before driving, prosecutors said.

She drove for the district worked from 1991 to 1999 and then again starting in August 2008.

Her husband, Michael Burden, declined comment when reached by phone.

Leane, the school board president, said Ramirez was following federal transportation regulations that indicate that a supervisor must have "actual knowledge" that a driver has been drinking in order to stop them from driving.

Many parents angrily questioned why Burden had been allowed to drive her route but declined to comment on the record.

Parent Dawn Byrne, who learned of the incident on Wednesday through an automated message, said she was surprised to hear that regulations would keep an administrator from stopping a suspected drunk driver.

"I wouldn't appreciate that as a parent only because if someone's questioning it, you would think they have to take full responsibility at that time to make sure our children our safe," said Byrne, who has two children in the district. "It's all about the kid's safety, not how he's following procedure."

A statement posted on the District 57 Web site says: "Ms. Burden has passed each of the random drug tests we require of all of our bus drivers. However, it is clear to us that our trust has been betrayed, and we offer our deepest apologies to the families affected by this incident. We are outraged that our students were subjected to this misconduct, and we are grateful that no one was injured as a result."

Burden is scheduled to appear in court April 1.
 
#9 ·
How the hell was she conscious?? Wow.

My personal best was .30 Followed by a hospital visit and stay. Alcohol poisoning freshman year. The doc said .30 is death/coma somehow I cheated both. Thanks to the iv overnight no hangover, parents were pissed that I didn't get to pay for my stupidity.
 
#11 ·
I'm assuming she must be a long time alcoholic that has built up a huge tolerance. I researched alcoholism once and I read that long term alcoholics have to be what most of us consider drunk just to function at a normal rate. She probably felt fine.
 
#15 ·
who's responsible for the policy of having to have actual knowledge?

and who is responsible if this had turned bad? considering a co-worker reported it and her supv. "inspected" the situation and didn't remove her from her post? the person/body who wrote/adopted the policy or the person who acted upon it?
 
#21 ·
Wow, if I was a parent of one of the kids I'd be pissed.
 
#24 ·
Effects of blood alcohol concentration
Blood alcohol concentration, mg/dl Clinical effects
20-50 Diminished fine motor coordination
50-100 Impaired judgement; impaired coordination
100-150 Difficulty with gait and balance
150-250 Lethargy; difficulty sitting upright without assistance
300 (=.3 blow) Coma in the non-habituated drinker
400 Respiratory depression

Reproduced with permission from: Marx, JA. Rosen's emergency medicine: concepts and clinical practice, 5th ed, Mosby, Inc., St. Louis 2002. p. 2513. Copyright © 2002 Elsevier.

she was obviously a habitual drinker - these levels are for nonhabituated drinkers. they obviously need to change their policy. at least no one was hurt and she is going to get the mandated medical treatment she so clearly needs - i always have conflicting feelings in these cases. not right what she did but she is really hurting from something in life to need to get help from a bottle.
 
#25 ·
Speaking of changing policies, if they can put breathalyzers on cars that shunt the ignition if you blow drunk, why cant they put a breathalyzer at the workplace, especially at a transportation related workplace, that requires the employees to blow before they get behind the wheel. Driving kids around drunk is just ridiculous. Rob, explain to us why that would be unconstitutional.:laughing:
 
#29 ·
Must be something with their union. I would have lied to her and told her the bus couldn't move for a safety reason and called the cops.


Me: This bus can't go, that's why I came out here. A replacement will be here shortly.

Driver: Umm, ok.

What's so hard about that?
 
#34 ·
In order to legally drive the bus, she must have a CDL. The CDL carries a lower legal BAC limit and violating the BAC limit has stiffer penalties prescribed by the Feds.
Not only should she be fired, stripped of her CDL and personal driving privledges she should also serve the maximum amount of time in jail provided by law and be fined the max amout....PLUS, That supervisor should be be fired as well!
It should be made publicly clear that violating DUI laws while driving children in a school bus is a zero tolerance offense! Max penalties will apply first time because you'll NEVER get a chance to ever commit a second offense!
 
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