An intoxicated DC bus driver crashed into a ditch with a busload of elementary school children not wearing seatbelts on the way back from a field trip. Mr. Sacks, an AP Environmental Science teacher here at B-CC, had the horrifying experience of finding out his son was on that bus. He was emailed on Thursday, October 27 regarding the bus driver taking his son back to Murch Elementary School in DC from a field trip at Cox Farms in Centreville, Va. The email stated that the bus driver, Troy Reynolds, was acting erratically but they were able to get the bus pulled over and the kids were brought to safety. Later, he was given more details on the full situation.
Reynolds had a Blood Alcohol Concentration level of .20, which indicates a percentage of alcohol in a person’s bloodstream over double the legal limit in Virginia. As a result of his intoxication, he veered off the road and got a flat tire. Many kids on board were thrown out of their seats. Mr. Sacks restated what his son told him about the incident: “Everybody fell out of their seats and some people bumped their heads, and a few kids had bleeding lips, and all the kids were crying because they had bumped and were scared.”
There were a total of 48 people on the bus, four of those being adults. Even after getting the flat tire, Reynolds continued to drive until the adults on board convinced him to follow a bus that was also returning from the field trip into a parking lot. Once there, they were met by police as well as a fire and rescue team who attended to the injuries of the passengers. One teacher ended up with a sprained shoulder and a student was taken to the hospital with possible concussion symptoms, but other than that, the injuries were minor. Troy Reynolds was arrested and charged with a DWI as well as child endangerment and taken into holding at an adult detention center.