Child dials 911 to report 'drunk' school bus driver
A boy suspected that his school bus driver was drunk so he called the police to turn her in.
A student in Longview, Washington, told police his regular bus driver was behaving oddly, reports KING-5 News. Besides her unusually laid back attitude toward seating on Sept. 12, the driver allegedly used obscenities and blew kisses. But it seems the tipping point for the boy was when the driver ran three red lights with children on the bus, according to reporting by KING-5.
No students were on the bus when police pulled over Catherine Maccarone, 48, and arrested her on suspicion of driving under the influence and reckless endangerment, KING-5 reports.
The fifth grader reportedly made it home safely and told his mother about the incident. KING-5 reports that the mother’s English was not good so she had her son make the call to 911.
“She was drunk. Like, passed three red lights and got on the side road by the 76 and there’s still kids on there,” the boy told the dispatcher, according to KING-5.
“Her eyes, you could tell she was drunk. Her breath sort of smelled like alcohol” he said.
There were at least 90 students on the routes Maccarone drove that afternoon.
Read more of the story at KING-5.
Steven Adams is a Tribune-Review manager/photography. You can contact Steven at sadams@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.