UPDATE @ 10:16 p.m.:
The school bus driver is no longer employed with First Student Inc., the company under contract with Vandalia-Butler schools, company spokeswoman Jen Biddinger said.
Company policy and employee privacy laws prohibit the release of any other information about the driver or his record, she said.
UPDATE @ 3:36 p.m.:
The driver of the First Student bus, under contract with Vandalia-Butler schools, was cited for improper backing and for having expired license plates on the vehicle, and the charges are minor misdemeanors, Butler Twp. Police Chief John Cresie said.
Police were called to Malina Avenue, a cul-de-sac in a residential area, shortly before 7:30 a.m. after receiving an alarm about the lift station that was struck by the bus.
The driver, a male whose name has not been released, was trying to back out of the cul-de-sac when the bus hit the lift station, which Cresie said belonged to the Montgomery County water department.
He drove off, but called police when he returned to the bus barn. Cresie said the driver did not commit a criminal act by leaving the scene. The bus had a bent bumper and a broken tail light.
This is the second First Student bus accident that police have been called to within the last two months. Cresie said he could not remember when and where the other accident took place.
FIRST REPORT
A Vandalia-Butler schools bus reportedly left the scene of a minor crash this morning with as many as 19 kids on board.
When police located the bus, there were no reports of injuries.
Police said the crash did damage to the bus, which reportedly has expired tags from May. They said it hit a lift station operated by the Montgomery County Environmental Service.
DP&L is on scene now to restore power that was knocked out.
Earlier this week, the Vandalia-Butler School Board voted to give the superintendent the option of terminating the district's transportation contract with First Student Inc. in the wake of recent bus crashes.
