A previous report can be seen in the player above.
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) – A school bus driver accused of operating a vehicle while impaired failed several field sobriety tests at the time of her arrest, according to the released incident report.
NBC4 obtained an Upper Arlington police report in which a UA school bus driver was reportedly driving erratically with students riding as passengers. The alleged incident took place on Nov. 2 after students told a UA resource officer at the school that a bus driver was driving erratically while en route from the high school to Fort Hayes near Downtown.
The driver, a 41-year-old woman, failed several sobriety tests administered by UAPD in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle Market District on Kingsdale Court after officers located the bus parked with the key in the ignition.
According to the incident report, the driver exited the grocery store and met with the officers, who asked the woman where she had been driving. The officers said the woman appeared confused on which route she had just completed, had trouble finishing sentences and slurred her words, including the phrase ‘milk of magnesia’, when she attempted to list medications and supplements she had taken that day.
Police noted one of the medications named, Tylenol 3, comes with a warning not to operate heavy machinery while on the medication.
Officers conducted the several field sobriety tests and noted the following:
- The driver told police she could cross her eyes, but offices observed Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, or the bouncing or involuntary jerking of the eyes, after her right eye did not converge during the test.
- The driver was reportedly unable to count by one-one thousand as instructed, restarted at zero and lost her balance during a one leg stand test.
- Police said the woman swayed front to back and told police the wind distracted her during a Modified Romberg test, which tests balance over a 30-second period.
- Police also conducted a walk and turn test and said the woman’s pupils stayed consistently constricted during the OVI exams.
The driver was placed under arrest, and she submitted a urine sample at UAPD headquarters. Those results were not provided by UAPD. During processing, police said the woman became more cognizant, slurred less, and was able to give her daily bus route in more detail.
She is charged with OVI and prohibited acts with a class A CDL while operating a school bus for Upper Arlington City Schools. She is scheduled to appear in Franklin County Municipal Court for a continued arraignment hearing on Nov. 28. Both charges are misdemeanors.
In a letter to families, Superintendent Bob Hunt said the bus driver was placed on leave and will no longer perform duties while an investigation is conducted.