Posted on 03/18/2006 2:06:37 PM PST by NormsRevenge
A school bus driver was arrested for driving under the influence with four children under the age of 6 Friday, the California Highway Patrol said.
Tara Cook, 35, was booked into Kern County Jail on one count of DUI and four counts of child endangerment -- one count for each child on board -- Officer Mark McWilliams said.
Officers were called at 2:13 p.m. to respond to a bus that had stopped in the middle of a road after driving into the center median, McWilliams said. She had passed out, he said.
The driver was taken to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for suffering from seizures initially, McWilliams said, but doctors determined that she was under the influence and didn't suffer from any malady.
The four children, ages 3 to 5, were unhurt, McWilliams said.
The children were students with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office, McWilliams said.
Representatives of the Superintendent's office couldn't be reached late Friday.
Cook had finished in second place in the 2002 Kern County California Association of School Transportation Officials chapter "road-e-o," according to the superintendent's Web site. Drivers had to maneuver their way through 10 events.
I hope she gets the help she needs..
Boy, you've got to have a pretty nasty addiction to want to get high before you drive a school bus. Hopefully she'll get help in the hospital.
Since no one got hurt.... "I cannot imagine wanting to drive a bus full of screaming kids unless I was drunk". Honestly hats off to those who do but you wouldn't get me driving a busload of screaming mimi's unless I was really desperate.
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