MIAMI COUNTY — A former bus driver has learned her sentence for driving an elementary school bus while impaired.
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Brenda Brooks received the maximum sentence possible: 18 months behind bars and five years of probation.
Brooks pleaded guilty to six counts of child endangerment, one count of OVI, and one count of prohibited acts.
“Your blood reports, and the drugs that were in you, it’s like a cocktail,” Miami County Municipal Court Judge Anthony Kendall said.
Judge Kendall made it clear Brooks should never have been behind the wheel of a Bethel Schools bus last September.
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She turned the wrong way when she pulled out of the school, and the ride got worse.
Children on the bus and other drivers reported her swerving across the roadway and missing stops.
One child called her parents for help, and her father eventually stopped Brooks by driving in front of the bus, then slowing down.
The judge asked Brooks if she had anything to say.
“I just have to apologize for my actions,” she said.
Brooks’ lawyer asked the judge for no jail time and said she was ready to check into a treatment center.
He also claimed the bad driving reports were overblown and only one child was upset.
“All the kids were crying, and all the kids wanted off the bus; one girl went out the back door,” Judge Kendall said.
He ordered Brooks to undergo substance abuse and mental health assessments.
“If you don’t think you have a problem, you’re just not going to be fixed,” he said.
Judge Kendall also suspended Brooks’ license.
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