Bus Driver Arrested For DUI

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 11, 2010 5:40PM

This is not the kind of story that warms your heart. In fact, it's the kind of story that makes us downright angry. Betty Burden, a Mount Prospect bus driver was arrested earlier this week for DUI while dropping children off after school and, according to police, her blood-alcohol level was 0.226, three times the legal limit. The Tribune reports:

School board President Joseph Leane said another driver had smelled alcohol on Burden's breath around 2:30 p.m. but did not report it to [supervisor Vincente] Ramirez until 3:30 p.m.

Officials said Ramirez immediately set out and caught up with Burden along her route from Lions Park Elementary School, where she was scheduled to pick up students being released at 3:35 p.m. Ramirez boarded the bus, but because he could not verify that she had been drinking, he followed Burden along her route and called police within 15 minutes, officials said.

School board President Joseph Leane defended Ramirez's actions of allowing Burden to continue driving even after confronting her about the coworker's suspicion:

...Ramirez was following federal transportation regulations that indicate that a supervisor must have "actual knowledge" that a driver has been drinking to stop that person from driving.

Burden, who admitted to prosecutors she had been drinking vodka and orange juice before driving, has been suspended without pay and was charged yesterday with felony aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol. The Tribune reports she had managed to drop off 50 children before her arrest. Parents were, not surprisingly, angry about the incident and that Burden was allowed to continue driving, but none spoke to the Tribune on-the-record.