LOUDON, Tenn. – An East Tennessee school bus driver was charged with driving under the influence after her vehicle with 30 children inside was found stopped in the middle of a street.
Loudon Police Chief James Webb said 48-year-old Vicky Lynn Kwasny was found passed out behind the wheel Tuesday around 8 a.m. Webb said a blood alcohol test was administered but the results were not immediately available.
The Loudon County Emergency Management Agency noticed the bus stopped for an extended time, Webb said, and police were notified. No one was hurt.
Wayne Honeycutt, director of schools, said Kwasny has been a contract driver since last November with a clean record. He said she has had a background check and passed two drug screenings.
Honeycutt said an estimated 30 students were on the bus, 18 of them high school students and the rest from middle school or younger.
"I'm sure the younger kids were upset, especially when they saw their driver sick," he said.
Kwasny was taken to a hospital and then jailed where she remained Tuesday evening. A jail spokesman said there was no record that she had hired an attorney.
Honeycutt said Tuesday evening he did not know if she had an attorney, and school officials were hoping to talk to her in jail.
She will not drive any more until the school completes an investigation, Honeycutt said.
The students on the bus took another bus to school or were transported by parents.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox