A school bus driver in Washington state is accused of driving under the influence after a child called 911 to report her.
Police arrested Catherine Maccarone, 48, after a child who just got off the bus called the police to tell them the driver’s breath reeked of alcohol, according to audio from the 911 call obtained by several news outlets.
“The bus driver, Catherine, she was drunk, because she passed three red lights and she got on the side road by the 76. And there’s still kids on there,” the child told the dispatcher. “She’s like wobbling and her eyes, you can tell, she was drunk.”
Using the child’s description, police tracked down Maccarone around 4 p.m. on September 12. They found “an obvious odor of intoxicants” coming from the bus driver, according to a Facebook post from the Longview Police Department.
Police said the driver completed two bus routes and there were no children on board at the time of her arrest.
Rick Parrish, a spokesperson for Longview Public School District, told ABC News that up to 90 children might have ridden the bus with Maccarone at the helm.
Maccarone has been placed on administrative leave while the school district conducts its own internal investigation into the situation.
Maccarone was taken to the Cowlitz County Jail and charged with two counts of reckless endangerment and DUI, police said.
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