Pittsburgh police have charged a school van driver with child endangerment and driving under the influence for allegedly fleeing the scene of a crash on Friday with five students aboard the vehicle.

Jeffrey Irwin, 66, also is charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving and failing to stop and render aid at a crash scene.

Police said they initially responded shortly after 3:30 p.m. to a report of a two-vehicle crash involving a school van on the north side of the 16th Street Bridge.

Neither vehicle received major damage in the crash, police said.

According to police, the other involved driver provided a description and license plate number for the fleeing van, and the student passengers, ages 9-11, began calling family members — who notified 911 and tracked the children’s phones.

Mt. Oliver Police identified the van and stopped it at about 4:15 p.m. at Becks Run Road and Wagner Street.

According to a complaint filed by police, Irwin told a Mt. Oliver officer that he’d consumed three to four alcoholic drinks around noon.

Police said he was “apologetic for what he did. He did not recall striking another vehicle.”

Each of the students was released to a parent or guardian. Police said family members reported one child had complained of leg pain, another of head pain. A third child struck her head on the van and was diagnosed with a concussion, the child’s mother told police.

The First Student van was used to transport children in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District to a charter school, TribLive news partner WTAE reported.

Irwin was taken to UPMC Mercy hospital to provide a blood sample and was kept for further evaluation and testings, police said.

Police said he’d been arrested in 2001 for leaving the scene of an accident and driving under the influence.

An attorney was not listed for Irwin in online court documents.

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