Student Stops Allegedly Drunk School Bus Driver

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. — A student here stepped in to stop a school bus driver who was driving erratically and was later arrested for being intoxicated while behind the wheel, WALA reports.

High school sophomore Cody Butler told the news source that his bus driver, Vicki Patrick, was swerving, and driving fast and then slow. He went to the front of the bus to see if she was OK, smelled alcohol, and noticed she was slurring her words. Butler walked back to his seat, called his mother and told her, and she called 911.

Patrick tried to pull over at a nearby fire station, but she missed the turn, stopped next to an intersection, and turned the bus off, Butler told WALA. She tried to call another bus to pick up the students but reportedly couldn’t form a complete sentence. Butler added that he wouldn’t let Patrick turn on the bus, and he told her to stay where she was.

A Baldwin County Public Schools employee stopped by and asked Patrick what was wrong, Butler told the news source. Butler added that he motioned for the employee to come over and “mouthed that she was drunk.” Patrick smelled like alcohol, had trouble standing and answering questions, and refused to take sobriety tests, deputies from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office told WALA. Her blood alcohol level was 15 times over the limit, Eddie Tyler, the superintendent for the district, told the news source. She is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless endangerment.

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