'Pool Of Tears': Mom Of Scout Killed, On Bus Driver's DWI Charge

LONG ISLAND, NY — The news that a bus driver was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after crashing twice while driving Scouts on the way back to camp Tuesday was deeply upsetting for the family of Boy Scout Andrew McMorris, who was killed by a drunken driver in 2018.

"Our hearts are heavy," said Alisa McMorris, Andrew's mother. "The words DWI and Scout in the same sentence travel to a deep place of our souls that is so painful. Seeing that a bus driver who was arrested for DWI and multiple counts of Leandra’s Law horrified us. How can this be that people still find the need to drive while impaired and endanger the welfare of innocent children! It brings the pain of Andrew’s loss to the surface, and we sit in a pool of tears feeling like Andrew’s loss and the losses of so many others have been in vain."

According to Riverhead Town Police, at 4:37 p.m. a call came in from the Baiting Hollow Scout Camp on Sound Avenue in Baiting Hollow regarding a First Student bus company bus driver operating a bus with juvenile day campers and camp staff onboard, while having "possible altered mental status or under the influence" and while attempting to transport the day campers from the Baiting Hollow Scout Camp.

Riverhead Police Department patrol division units responded to the scene and found that the bus driver, Diane M. Juergens, 61, of Ridge, had just been involved in two separate crashes while operating the bus on Sound Avenue near Oak Hills in Baiting Hollow, just west of the Baiting Hollow Scout Camp, with campers and one camp counselor/staff member onboard the bus, police said. She left the scene of both motor crashes, police said.

Juergens was arrested and charged with one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated — Leandra's Law; two counts of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, and 10 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

Leandra's Law is legislation in New York State that means driving while intoxicated with a person aged 15 or younger inside the vehicle — with a blood alcohol content at 0.08 or higher — is an automatic felony on the first offense.

No injuries were reported; all juvenile day campers were returned to their families without incident, police said.

The Baiting Hollow Scout Camp recently had its new lodge dedicated to Andrew McMorris, from Wading River, who killed by a drunk driver in Manorville while out on a hike with his troop.

The Suffolk County Council, Boy Scouts of America, issued a statement: "Nothing is more important than the safety of our youth members. As part of our regular safety measures, we always have a staff member onboard each bus that takes youth members to and from camp. Upon realizing that something was wrong with the bus driver, our staff member took immediate action, and we were able to safely remove all youth members from the bus before contacting authorities. There were no injuries thanks to this quick action."

"We are grateful the Scout camp had youth protection in mind by having a staff member on all buses who followed protocol and got the bus and its occupants stopped without injury," McMorris said.

However, the incident further highlights the critical need for change, McMorris said.

"This is why our family and the Andrew McMorris Foundation along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving are fighting so hard to get drunk driving prevention technology on all new vehicles as soon as possible," she said. "Technology exists today that could stop this, and we need Congress to pass legislation this year that would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to determine the best technology and start equipping all new vehicles in the next few years, including commercial vehicles like school buses and limousines."

The Senate's Reduce Impaired Driving for Everyone, or RIDE, and House's Honoring Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate Drunk Driving or HALT, Acts "will end drunk and impaired driving. We need Albany to act as well," McMorris said.

She added: "Yesterday’s outcome could have been so much worse. We need to not only enact tougher laws here in New York, but put in safeguards to prevent tragedies from ever happening in the first place nationally."

To learn more about the RIDE and HALT acts, click here.

To learn more about Andrew McMorris and efforts to stop drunk and impaired driving, click here.