School bus driver busted after student calls 911 to report her driving drunk
A school bus driver in Washington was arrested after a young student called 911 to report her for running red lights while driving drunk, according to reports.
The 10-year-old pupil got off the bus because he was so concerned about driver Catherine Maccarone, 48, who had driven about 90 children the day she was busted, according to ABC News.
“The bus driver, Catherine, she was drunk,” the unidentified Longview fifth-grader told the 911 dispatcher, in audio released to ABC.
“She passed three red lights and she got on the side road by the 76. And there’s still kids on there. And I was telling my friend to get off with me — and his sister — but the bus driver wouldn’t let him.”
He said the driver was “not acting like herself” and had been swearing at kids on the bus, according to The Daily News in Longview.
She was so bad she was “wobbling,” the boy reportedly told the dispatcher. “Her eyes, you can tell, she was drunk,” he said, according to ABC.
While there were no children on the bus by the time police got to Maccarone on Thursday last week, she had completed two afternoon routes, according to Longview police.
“Officers smelled an obvious odor of intoxicants coming from Maccarone,” police said in a statement.
Maccarone told the officer she was upset about her divorce and was taking anxiety and sleep medication — saying “Oh, you know” when asked which ones, according to The Daily News.
Maccarone was booked into the Cowlitz County Jail for driving under the influence and reckless endangerment. She is due back in court on Oct. 15.
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