ARAPAHOE COUNTY - A school bus driver arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence told sheriff’s officers he’d had “a beer with lunch” and had taken four different medications for the flu.
His arrest came after he had driven roughly 30 students home from West Middle School.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by 9NEWS, a roadside breath test showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .015, well below the threshold at which a motorist is presumed to be impaired or intoxicated in Colorado.
Michael Hobbs, 53, had been a driver for Cherry Creek Schools since Oct. 12, according to district spokeswoman Tustin Amole.
He faces a charges of child abuse without injuries and driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs – both misdemeanors.
Amole said Hobbs began his afternoon route at West Middle – his bus was one of 14 in a line outside the school. A district staff member walked by him and “thought that she smelled a faint odor of alcohol,” Amole said.
“He showed no visible signs of intoxication,” Amole said. “He was talking normally.”
However, the staffer notified a district transportation supervisor. By then, Hobbs had already left the school with about 30 students on his bus, headed to a stop in the 6700 block of East Costilla Avenue. Amole said a transportation dispatcher radioed to him, but by then he’d already arrived at the stop and all of the students had gotten off the bus.
The district called paramedics and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. After paramedics determined Hobbs did not need medical attention, sheriff’s deputies spoke to him and asked him to perform roadside sobriety tests. Hobbs also agreed to blow into portable breath tester, which showed a blood-alcohol level of .015.
A motorist in Colorado is presumed to be impaired with a BAC of .05 and intoxicated with a BAC of .08.
Hobbs initially said that he had not had anything to drink, but after the results of the breath test he “stated that he had lied and did have a beer with lunch,” according to the affidavit.
Hobbs also told officers that “he was sick with the flu and had taken a lot of medication,” including NyQuil, DayQuil, Aleve and Theraflu.
After officers arrested Hobbs, he agreed to submit to a blood test. Those results aren’t expected for several weeks.
Amole said that Hobbs is on leave and “will go through our due process” but won’t return to work.
“We looked at the video on the bus ... there was no erratic driving or anything like that,” Amole said.
West Middle School Principal Kate Bergles sent a note to parents, saying she was “saddened by this incident” and that she feels “deeply for the families who have children on that route.”
Amole said that the staffer who first suspected that Hobbs may have been drinking didn’t see anything that suggested he was intoxicated but reported her suspicion anyway.
“He didn’t show any visible signs of intoxication,” she said. “That said we’re always going to go back and look at our policies and procedures and see what we might do better, and we’re going to do that in this case.”
Hobbs’ arrest comes about two months after a school bus driver was cited with multiple charges amid allegations she was on multiple prescription drugs when she lost control of her bus on Highway 7 outside Lyons.
It was Dec. 7 that the St. Vrain Valley school bus flipped over, sending five students and the driver, Elizabeth Burris, to the hospital. Burris later failed roadside sobriety tests and told a state trooper she was on “about” six different prescription medications.
The district fired her on Feb. 17.
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