RUSH CITY, Minn. — A school bus driver with Rush City Public Schools was arrested Thursday and subsequently charged with driving impaired after authorities learned the bus had left the roadway with children aboard.
Kara Ffrench, 59, of Harris, Minnesota, was charged in Chisago County Friday with two counts of driving while impaired. The complaint alleges a preliminary breath test showed her blood-alcohol content amounted to .199, despite her claims that it had been days since she consumed alcohol.
According to prosecutors, Chisago County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived at the scene on Game Avenue north of Tiger Trail in Rush City around 8:15 a.m., where they learned the bus had gone off the roadway with 45 children inside. After the kids were deemed uninjured and transferred to school by a backup driver and bus, deputies questioned Ffrench.
The complaint alleges Ffrench told deputies her foot "didn't find the brake," when asked how the bus got stuck off-road at the edge of a cornfield, just off a residential driveway area. Court documents allege that's when a deputy smelled alcohol on Ffrench's breath, and observed her carrying a water bottle and an insulated coffee mug.
After failing a field sobriety test, prosecutors said deputies believed Ffrench had added some kind of alcoholic beverage to her coffee.
She was subsequently arrested and booked into the Chisago County Jail. The complaint said Ffrench blew .17 when she arrived to the jail, about two hours after the incident first occurred.
On Friday, bail conditions were set for Ffrench, who is not allowed to use alcohol or controlled substances and must remain law-abiding, among others.
Investigators said they reviewed surveillance video from the area, which showed the bus driving into the field and backing into a basketball pole three times before coming to a rest.
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