LONGVIEW, Wash. — A school bus driver in Washington state is facing DUI charges after a student called 911 to report that she was running red lights.
KGW reported that driver, later identified as Catherine Maccarone, 48, first took high schoolers home on the Longview Public Schools bus and then transported grade school-age children.
The boy was off the bus and at home when he told his mother, who KGW reported doesn't speak English, what happened. She told him to call 911.
"She was drunk. Like, passed three red lights and got on the side road by the 76 and there's still kids on there," the student told the 911 dispatcher on Sept. 12, according to the news station.
The dispatcher asked the boy to describe what Maccarone was doing, KGW reported.
"Her eyes, you could tell she was drunk," he said. "Her breath sort of smelled like alcohol."
Police said no children were on the bus when Maccarone was arrested, and she had "recently completed two afternoon bus routes," KATU reported.
TDN.com reported that police said they smelled "obvious odor of intoxicants" on Maccarone. She was arrested on suspicion of driving a school bus while under the influence and two counts of reckless endangerment, KPTV reported.
"This incident we take very seriously and our number one priority is safety and security for our kids," Rick Parrish, spokesperson for the Longview School district told KGW in a statement.
"We're thankful that all of our students were delivered safely home," Parrish told TDN.com.
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