School bus driver charged with drunken driving on field trip
CENTREVILLE, Va. (AP) — A bus driver for a D.C. elementary school has been charged with driving while intoxicated after his bus veered into a ditch in northern Virginia on a field trip.
Fairfax County Police said nine children were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The bus was carrying 44 children and four adults Thursday back to Murch Elementary School in the District after a field trip to Cox Farms in Centreville, a popular field trip destination in the region during the fall.
Police said the bus hit a rock and veered into a ditch off Braddock Road.
The 48-year-old driver from Suitland, Maryland, was charged after police say he failed a field sobriety test and had a blood-alcohol content of .20, more than double the legal limit of .08.
Police say the driver's license had already been revoked in Virginia from a prior drunken driving conviction.
Officers also found a combined 18 safety violations on the two buses carrying children to the field trip and that none of the operators were properly licensed to operate a school bus.
D.C. Public Schools said in a statement that it plans to undertake a review of the transportation vendors it uses for field trips and other extracurricular activities.