A Washington, D.C. elementary school bus driver transporting a class full of students on a field trip in Virginia was arrested on Thursday for DWI after driving the big yellow vehicle into a ditch.
Fairfax County Police arrested Troy Reynolds, 48, of Maryland and charged him with DWI as well as nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for children.
Police said was driving a school bus carrying 44 children and four adults back to Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C. after spending the day at Cox Farms in Centreville, Virginia.
Not long after hitting the road, Reynolds ran over a rock, causing the rim to flare out and the tire to flatten.
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Rather than stop, police said Reynolds continued to drive until adults on the bus convinced him to follow another bus that was returning from the field trip as well.
Both buses came to a stop in a parking lot at a nearby technology park where they were met by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel and officers from the Fairfax County Police, Sully District Station.
Police said nine children were treated on the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.
Reynolds, police added, failed a field sobriety test and was taken to a detention facility.
He was charged with DWI – which was his second within a 10-year period – and commercial DWI with child endangerment.
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Police also discovered Reynolds’ license was revoked in Virginia for a previous DWI and suspended in Maryland.
A search of Reynolds found he was in possession of a fake medical card, and he was ultimately held without bond.
Between the two buses at the scene, officers with the police department’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit found 18 safety violations. A third bus that responded to the scene to replace the bus Reynolds was driving was also taken out of service by police for safety violations.
Of the three drivers who were on the scene, MCS officers determined none were properly licensed to drive a school bus.
All 93 students and eight adults were transported to the Criminal Justice Academy in Chantilly, Virginia where they were able to play in the gym while detectives investigated the matter.
Ultimately, buses from the Fairfax County Public School system took the students back to their school in D.C.
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