A school bus driver has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol along with multiple other charges after he smashed a school bus into a home in Long Island on Thursday.
Frederick Flowers, 66, crashed into the garage of a home in Syosset, Long Island on Wednesday, according to Nassau County police officials. The bus driver was arrested on the scene of the accident for charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated.
There were five school children on board the bus at the time of the incident, all between the ages of 5 and 9 years old. None of the children were injured. Flowers was transported to hospital after the accident and has been admitted for treatment of minor injuries. The injuries were not life threatening, said a police spokesperson.
Flowers was transporting students home from the St. Edward the Confessor School at around 3pm when he lost control of the vehicle while coming around a bend and swerved off the road, crashing into the garage of a Syosset home. The bus he was driving was a 2006 model Ford short school bus. No one was in the home at the time of the incident, but the bus did cause significant structural damage to the garage as well as damage to property that was being stored in the garage.
Flowers, who hails from Massapequa Park and has been a bus driver for more than twenty years, was air lifted to a nearby hospital following the incident. Once admitted to hospital, it was determined by investigators and medical personnel that Flowers was under the influence of alcohol, said police in a media report issued on Thursday morning.
Flowers has been charged with multiple accounts of aggravated driving while under the influence of alcohol, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. His trial is expected to be held later this month in a local court in Long Island.
School bus accidents such as these occur all too commonly. It is imperative that professional drivers who have the lives of other passengers, in particular children, in their hands are appropriately trained and are held accountable for incidents such as this one. Fortunately, in this case there were no fatalities and no children were injured. However, this accident should serve as a warning about the importance of safe driving practices and regulations need to be enforced to ensure that such an incident is prevented in the future.