Sheriff: Drunk bus driver drove Florida students home

A school bus driver is accused of being intoxicated when he drove dozens of students home from their Florida middle school, sheriff’s officials said.

According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, a co-worker smelled alcohol on the 60-year-old bus driver when he arrived to work for his afternoon shift on Wednesday. The co-worker reported it to his supervisors, but the driver had already taken a bus that was not even assigned to him.

He picked up 40 students at Buddy Taylor Middle School and began dropping them off at their bus stops, officials said. The district’s transportation officials tried to reach him by radio on the bus, but he didn’t answer.

The report said his supervisor eventually found him along the bus route and got him to stop. As he got off the bus, the driver fell to the ground, complaining that he couldn’t breathe. Paramedics took him to a hospital.