MN Bus Driver Had .19 BAC When She Crashed With 45 Kids: Police

CHISAGO COUNTY, MN — A 59-year-old Minnesota woman was driving a bus of 45 school children while drunk before crashing into a basketball pole, according to authorities.

Kara Ffrench, of Harris, was charged Friday with two counts of DWI.

On Thursday just after 8 a.m., the Chisago County Sheriff's Office responded to an address in Rush City on a report that a school bus had struck a basketball pole and was stuck on private property.

A sergeant at the scene noticed the bus was stuck between a cornfield the basketball pole and hoop. The school bus was still running, authorities said.

The bus driver, identified as Ffrench, was still sitting in the driver's seat of the bus and smelled of alcohol, according to the criminal complaint.

Ffrench showed signs of impairment including slow movement and apparent confusion regarding some of the controls for the bus, authorities said.

When asked what had led to the crash, Ffrench twice said some version of her "foot didn't find the brake," the criminal complaint states.

Of the 45 children aboard the bus, two-thirds were elementary age and under the age of 16. The remaining children were high school age, investigators said. None were reported injured.

The children left the crashed bus and went to school on a replacement bus that arrived at the scene.

When Ffrench got out of the bus, she was carrying a plastic water bottle and an insulated coffee mug, according to investigators. She took the "walk and turn" test twice and failed to complete it both times, authorities said.

Ffrench took a preliminary breath test which showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.199, according to the criminal complaint. The legal limit in Minnesota is .08.

She twice denied drinking alcohol, according to investigators.

A breath test taken later when Ffrench was in custody turned up a result of .17, authorities said.