Betty A. Burden DUI driving the school bus BAC.226

[malq]

MOUNT PROSPECT, ILL. A school bus driver for Mt. Prospect Elementary School Dist. 57 has been suspended without pay and will be recommended for termination at the next board of education meeting on Thursday, Mar. 18 for allegedly driving a bus while under the influence of alcohol.

On Tuesday, Mar. 9, at 3:45 p.m., Mt. Prospect Police Sgt. Michael Eterno received a telephone call from Dist. 57 Transportation Coordinator Vincente Ramirez. Police said Ramirez stated one of the district's school bus drivers, 54-year-old Betty A. Burden of Mt. Prospect, was operating Dist. 57 school bus 11.

Burden was transporting approximately 50 children under the age of 18 from Lions Park Elementary School in Mt. Prospect to various bus stops within the village, according to police.

Ramirez said a coworker of Burden's reported to him that she had smelled alcohol on Burden's breath at around 2:30 p.m., police said.

Eterno and another officer arrived and checked the projected route of bus 11. Eterno located the bus traveling northbound on River Road, just north of Euclid Avenue and performed an investigatory traffic stop. Burden was on her way to drop off the bus at a nearby bus station, police said.

Eterno spoke to Burden, who police say was operating the now empty bus. Mt. Prospect police said Eterno immediately smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Burden's breath. Eterno also made additional observations concerning Burden's physical state that were consistent with alcohol impairment, according to police.

According to police, Burden admitted to having consumed an alcoholic beverage during the course of the day and consented to performing a variety of standard field sobriety tests.

Police said Burden failed all field sobriety tests administered to her and was placed under arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Burden was transported to the Mt. Prospect Police Dept. where she consented to a breath alcohol test, which registered her blood alcohol concentration at 0.226, police said. The legal limit in Illinois is .08.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office approved a felony charge of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol for being under the influence while transporting passengers under the age of 18.

According to Dist. 57 Supt. Dr. Elaine Aumiller, Burden was employed with the district from 1991-99, and returned to employment in the district in August 2008.

Aumiller said Burden has a clean disciplinary history and has passed each of the random drug tests the district requires of all bus drivers.

"However it is clear to us that our trust has been betrayed and we offer our deepest apologies to the families affected by the incident," Aumiller said in a written statement. "We are outraged that our students were subjected to this misconduct, and we are grateful that no one was injured as a result."

Burden's bond was set at $10,000. She is expected to appear back in a Rolling Meadows courtroom on Thursday, Apr. 1 at 10:30 a.m.

Link
WTF?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

In addition to the obvious twatwaffle featured in the story, I have to really wonder about her co-workers.

They smelled alcohol on her breath at 2:30 and let her get in the bus and drive kids around? They didn't even report it until 3:45. They would have known she would be done/nearly done with her route by then.

That mental debate would have been interesting to hear. You either smell it or you don't. Call the cops and let them sort it out. If it was a mistake, she would be none the wiser as to who called and the coworker could have done a mental slink for getting it wrong. I doubt the odor of a .22+ drunk is that hard to mistake, though.

I bet it's not the first time they had suspicions... just the first they called it in.

[malq]

In addition to the obvious twatwaffle featured in the story, I have to really wonder about her co-workers.

They smelled alcohol on her breath at 2:30 and let her get in the bus and drive kids around? They didn't even report it until 3:45. They would have known she would be done/nearly done with her route by then.

That mental debate would have been interesting to hear. You either smell it or you don't. Call the cops and let them sort it out. If it was a mistake, she would be none the wiser as to who called and the coworker could have done a mental slink for getting it wrong. I doubt the odor of a .22+ drunk is that hard to mistake, though.

I bet it's not the first time they had suspicions... just the first they called it in.

Right, goodol'boysyndrome
People that can function in a work environment with a .20 and higher are drinking all the time. No doubt the smell was reeking out of her pores. I suspect everyone knew her drinking was chronic and she stretched it that day. It was probably the straw that broke the camels back. Really, how bad is is it when you drive a school bus drunk. bad
Recently, I had one beer an hour before and someone asked me if I had been drinking. When you are not drinking and they are, it's obvious with the smell.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Betty Burden, a former northwest suburban school bus driver, was sentenced to probation and community service but no prison time after she drove kids around while drunk.

At the Rolling Meadows courthouse on Wednesday, Burden, 55, was sentenced to 30 months probation and 480 hours of community service. She could have gotten three years in prison.

She had already admitted that last March 9 she had been drunk while driving a Mount Prospect school bus along a nearly seven-mile route to deliver about 45 Lions Park Elementary School students to their homes.
[...]
Burden admitted drinking vodka and orange juice before driving the children home from the Lions Park Elementary School in the northwest suburb, police said following her arrest.

She was subsequently fired by Mount Prospect District 57 , as was her supervisor, who had checked on Burden after getting a report that she might have been drinking, but did not immediately contact police.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news...tence-20110126

[malq]

This is unbelievable. Of all the sanctioned safe places for your kid to be, top of the list has to be a school bus. It's a complete betrayal of the system that allowed it to happen. I am dead sure that she had been doing this for a while and everyone knew it. Like i posted above you cant get a .20 BAc without being a full time drinker. A teetotaler would be on their lips.

30 months probation is what the average Joe gets for a dui. There should be a felony here. Not sure where the system is failing. This is Fuuucked up