Police in D.C. charged a bus driver with driving while intoxicated after he crashed into a ditch, injuring nine children returning from a field trip.
Fairfax County Police said Troy Reynolds, 48, of Centreville, Virginia, was returning students and adults from Cox Farms to Murch Elementary School in Washington when he went off the road.
After hitting a rock, the bus’s rim bent and the tire flattened, carrying 44 children and four adults.
After he kept driving, Reynolds was convinced to follow another bus that was also returning to the school from the field trip, police said. Both buses stopped in a parking lot.
According to the news release, firefighters and police responded to the parking lot and treated nine children for minor injuries. Reynolds failed a field sobriety test, which led to his arrest. According to police, he had a blood alcohol concentration of .20, which is above Virginia’s legal limit of .08.
Lewis Ferebee, DCPS Chancellor, said the school district takes the incident “very seriously” and will do “a thorough review of all transportation vendors to ensure student safety is always prioritized.”
After an investigation, Fairfax County Police discovered Reynolds’ license was revoked in Virginia for a previous DWI and suspended in Maryland. He also had a fake medical card, police said.