Bus With Children Crashes, Driver Faces DWI Charge In Fairfax County

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A bus containing D.C. children leaving a field trip crashed in Fairfax County Thursday, injuring nine children and resulting in a drunken-driving charge for the driver.

The crash involved a school bus taking 44 children and four adults from Cox Farms in Centreville back to Murch Elementary School in northwest Washington, D.C. According to Fairfax County Police, the bus veered off Braddock Road and into a ditch, striking a rock. The crash caused the rim to bend and the rear tire to flatten.

The bus driver had continued driving until the adults on board convinced him to follow a second school bus. The buses stopped in a parking lot in the 15000 block of Conference Center Drive in Chantilly, where Fairfax County Police and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue responded. Nine children were treated for non-life-threatening injuries on the scene.

Troy Reynolds, 48, of Maryland, failed a field sobriety test and was taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. According to police, he had a blood alcohol content of .20, which is above the .08 legal limit in Virginia.

Reynolds was charged with driving while intoxicated (second offense within 5 to 10 years) with a child, commercial DWI with child endangerment, and nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for a child. Police found Reynolds’ license was revoked in Virginia from a previous DWI and suspended in Maryland, and he had a fraudulent medical card, police said. He was held at the detention center without bond.

The police department's Motor Carrier Safety also responded and found 18 safety violations between the two school buses taking the children on the field trip. A third bus that responded to replace the damaged bus was also found to have safety violations. The unit determined none of the bus drivers were properly licensed to be driving the school buses.

While the investigation was happening, the 93 children and eight on the two school buses were taken to the Criminal Justice Academy in Chantilly. The children played in the gym with police cadets, training instructors and fire department personnel until a Fairfax County Public Schools bus took them back to their school in D.C.

"We appreciate the support of Fairfax County law enforcement, who welcomed students at a nearby training facility as they awaited transportation back to the school," D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said in a statement. "DCPS takes this incident very seriously, and our teams will do a thorough review of our transportation vendors to ensure that student safety is always prioritized."