South Jersey School Bus Driver Gets DUI While Transporting Kids: Police

CLAYTON, NJ — A Gloucester County school bus drove children Friday morning while under the influence of alcohol, authorities said.

Clayton police received information at 9:10 a.m. that a school bus driver may be driving while intoxicated. Officers stopped the vehicle at Franklin Street and Poe Avenue to conduct field sobriety tests.

The driver — Suzanne Stoms, 48, of Williamstown — failed the testing and was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI), police said. There were 23 elementary-age students on the bus, according to law enforcement.

Officers took Stoms to the police station, where she submitted chemical breath testing. Her Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) exceeded 0.04 — the state's legal limit for commercial driver's licenseholders, authorities said.

Stoms was criminally charged with endangering the welfare of a child and received traffic summonses for drunk driving, commercial driver's license DUI, DUI with minor passengers, and reckless driving. She was released from custody with a future court date.

The Delsea Transportation Office found a substitute driver to safely bring the students to Herma Simmons Elementary School. School administration and counselors spoke to the children about the incident and contacted their families, according to the Clayton Public School District's superintendent.

"It goes without saying that this is behavior that will not be tolerated, and we will be terminating the employee effective immediately," Nikolaos C. Koutsogiannis said in a letter to the school community.