A charter bus driver has been charged with commercial DWI and child endangerment after crashing while transporting 44 kindergartners and four adults on a field trip.
The bus was one of two Rome Charters LLC vehicles taking students from Ben Murch Elementary School in Northwest Washington back to the city Thursday from the Cox Farms pumpkin patch in Centreville, Virginia.
The charter bus veered off the road, struck a rock, damaged a rim, blew out a rear tire and went into a ditch. Although several students bumped their heads, no injuries were reported.
School staff members on the bus got the driver, Troy Reynolds, to pull over, according to police. Mr. Reynolds stopped the bus in a parking lot in Chantilly, and school staff on the bus contacted 911.
“The staff realized once he’d driven off the road and caused that damage to the bus that something was wrong, and so they were able to get him to pull over. … They immediately called 911 to request police assistance,” Fairfax County Police Capt. Rachel Levy said.
Fairfax County police arrested Mr. Reynolds, a 48-year-old Oxon Hill, Maryland, resident, and noticed that he smelled of alcohol. Mr. Reynolds had a blood alcohol level of 0.2%, Capt. Levy said, 2.5 times the legal limit to drive in Virginia, which is 0.08%. He was held without bail.
No alcohol was found on the bus, Capt. Levy said.
Mr. Reynolds, according to authorities, should not have been driving for Rome Charters in the first place because of a previous DWI conviction five to 10 years ago.
“His privilege to drive in the state of Virginia, I believe, has been revoked,” Capt. Levy said.
A third bus was called to drive the stranded kindergartners and staff back to school.
Police found, however, that not only was the third bus supposed to be out of service for safety violations, but the new driver did not have a commercial driver’s license. The same was found for the second bus and its driver.
Fairfax police took both buses out of service for safety violations.
“DCPS takes this incident very seriously, and our teams will do a thorough review of our transportation vendors to ensure that student safety is always prioritized. We are incredibly thankful that no one sustained injuries during this frightening incident,” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said.
Parent Marnique Heath said she was horrified by the crash, but relieved no one was hurt.
“It’s always scary when your kids are away and there’s something happening and you’re not there to protect them, but to find this out is terrifying. It’s horrifying. And we feel blessed that everybody was able to escape this largely unharmed,” Ms. Heath told NBC 4.
Rome Charters LLC has not responded to a request for comment.
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