Bus Driver Accused Of DUI While Transporting Children

This must be among parents' worst nightmares: A bus driver taking your child to school with a blood-alcohol concentration of nearly three times the legal limit. Mount Prospect bus driver Betty A. Burden was arrested last week on suspicion of doing just that, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ms. Burden and her Chicago DUI lawyer likely will have much to talk about as she prepares either a guilty plea or an unlikely defense to the charge.

She was charged with aggravated DUI for transporting passengers under the age of 18 while under the influence of alcohol after registering a .226 blood-alcohol concentration and ordered to be held on $10,000 bond. She reportedly took 50 Lions Park Elementary School students home from school but was stopped by police after the all of the children had been dropped off.

But she also drove home students from two other schools on the same day, according to angry parents cited by the Chicago Daily Herald. That claim was neither confirmed nor denied by Mount Prospect School District 57, but its web site indicated Ms. Burden's route also serves Lincoln and Westbrook schools in the suburban town.

An anonymous co-worker told district transportation coordinator Vincente Ramirez that he or she smelled alcohol on Ms. Burden's breath at around 2:30, according to the Sun-Times. Mr. Ramirez then contacted Sgt. Michael Eterno, who along with another officer located and followed the bus.

Although an automatic stop without visible probable cause would have violated Ms. Burden's 4th Amendment right against unlawful search and seizure, according to FindLaw, the officers say her physical state "was consistent with alcohol impairment." It's unclear whether she was weaving, speeding or otherwise gave them just cause for the stop.

Police also say she admitted to having consumed alcohol before allegedly failing both the field sobriety and breathalyzer tests. It is illegal for bus drivers to have any alcohol in their blood while on duty, according to the Daily Herald.

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