MESA, AZ — Mesa Public Schools says a bus driver has been dismissed from his job, following a series of events which included his bus hitting the mirror of another bus. After that incident, the bus driver allegedly tested positive for alcohol with two breathalyzer tests that came back .263.
The district says the driver had one student on the school bus he was driving when his bus "made contact" with a mirror on another bus on September 25 at Patterson Elementary School.
According to the district, there was "no reasonable suspicion" the driver was intoxicated at the time, but per protocol, the driver was taken to a district building for testing.
“[The driver] was driven to the bus transportation building by his site supervisor. According to district accident protocol, Mobile Drug Collection was called and conducted two on-site breathalyzer tests at the bus transportation building. The end result was .263,” the district said in a statement.
The driver then allegedly chose to leave the area in his personal vehicle despite being asked to stay. At that point, a district employee contacted 911. The call was roughly two hours after the initial incident involving the school bus.
The district says they provided the driver’s home address and the direction that he left in, to Mesa police.
“[The driver] attempted to report to work the next day but was instructed to leave. His supervisor again contacted Mesa Police. [The driver] declined to participate in due process and was officially dismissed by the Governing Board,” the district said in a statement.
Mesa police say the driver was not arrested in connection to the incident. Police tell ABC15 that by the time they got a call about the incident they were unable to locate the driver. Since he is not facing any charges, ABC15 is not identifying the driver.
According to Mesa Public Schools, the driver was hired in December 2006. They say the driver had passed all previous random drug and alcohol tests, as well as all annual drug tests.
ABC15 is requesting additional information regarding this incident.
