Video shows impaired bus driver crash into ditch with 10 kids aboard, Oregon cops say
An Oregon school bus driver was arrested on DUI charges Wednesday after crashing with students aboard, and authorities have released footage of the vehicle barreling into the ditch.
The bus was found in the ditch on Southwest Old Highway 47 around 8 a.m., the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Inside the vehicle, officers found Jonathan Gates, the 20-year-old driver from Hillsboro, as well as an adult bus aide and 10 students from the Forest Grove School District, deputies said. The children ranged in age from 10 to 16.
No one inside the bus was hurt, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
But the bus driver “appeared to be impaired, and he was arrested for DUI-controlled substance,” deputies said.
Gates was taken to the Washington County Jail and — after cooperating with investigators — he “was later issued a citation in lieu of custody and released,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
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The crash was about five miles south of Forest Grove, a town roughly 25 miles west of Portland, according to KGW.
“Following district procedure, the driver will undergo a mandatory drug test and be placed on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing,” the school district said in a statement, according to the Gales Creek Journal.
The 10 students involved — who attend Forest Grove High School, Neil Armstrong Middle School and Tom McCall Upper Elementary School — “were evaluated by emergency personnel and were released to parents or guardians,” KATU reports.
A photo of the bus released by police shows the bright yellow vehicle crashed into the ditch off the highway near train tracks, with the bus’s front fender broken.
Video police posted of the crash on Facebook appears to capture the moment the bus leaves the road and hits the ditch.
