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Maryland resident Troy Reynolds, 48, was charged with driving while intoxicated and nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for a child after crashing a school bus carrying 44 children and four adults back to Murch Elementary School in Washington, DC following a field trip to Cox Farms in Centreville.
The bus veered off Braddock Road and into a ditch on its way home, striking a rock, causing a rim to bend and a rear tire to flatten, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Investigators said that Reynolds continued driving until the adults on the bus convinced him to follow a second bus, which was also returning to the school from the field trip, before both stopped in a parking lot in the 15000 block of Conference Center Drive in Chantilly.
Officers from the Sully District Station and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel responded to the parking lot to assist, at which point Reynolds proceeded to fail a sobriety test and was taken into custody.
It was later determined that his blood alcohol concentration was .20, nearly triple the legal limit in Virginia.
Nine children were treated at the scene for minor injuries following the crash, investigators noted. Reynolds was charged with:
- Driving while intoxicated with children between the ages of 5 and 10;
- Commercial DWI with child endangerment;
- Nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for a child.
Detectives found a total of 18 safety violations between the two buses transporting the children on the field trip, and a third bus that responded to replace the damaged bus was also taken out of service for safety violations.
Officers also determined that none of the bus drivers were properly licensed to operate a school bus.
Police investigators also noted that Reynolds’ license was found to be revoked in Virginia from a prior DWI and suspended in Maryland. He was also found in possession of a fraudulent medical card.
Reynolds is being held without bond in Virginia.
“The children on both buses and their chaperones were taken to the Criminal Justice Academy in Chantilly,” according to police. “A total of 93 students and eight adults played in the gym while the investigation was underway with police cadets and training instructors as well as Fire and Rescue personnel. Fairfax County Public School bus later took the students back to their school.”
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