A Tenino School District bus driver was not driving the school bus while intoxicated on Monday, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) confirmed.
A TCSO sergeant and deputy were dispatched to a report of a possibly intoxicated school bus driver in the Tenino/Bucoda area on March 2, according to Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders.
The caller had reported students were let off the bus at an irregular spot in town, noting that the bus was driving an irregular route.
Upon contacting the driver and the bus barn operations manager, “It was discovered that the driver in question was a substitute bus driver who took the wrong turn and had to make a difficult maneuver in Bucoda to get back on route,” Sanders stated.
TCSO interviewed the driver and inspected video footage from the bus, and found no signs of impairment.
“TCSO and the Tenino School District take allegations such as this seriously, and I appreciate the concerned citizen who reported this so we could ensure our children are getting to and from the classroom safely,” Sanders said Wednesday in a social media post.
