Springboro police released video from a traffic stop on a school bus being driven by an allegedly intoxicated driver in December.
Sherry Callahan, 52, the Springboro bus driver who was arrested last month on suspicion of drunk driving, resigned from her position, according to district officials. Callahan is facing several misdemeanor criminal charges including operating a vehicle while intoxicated, endangering children and commercial drivers criminal offenses.
According to a police report, her blood alcohol content when removed from the bus was .058, which is above the legal limit to drive for commercial drivers of .04. Callahan, who lives in Franklin and has been a driver with the district since 2003, already surrendered her driver's license.
If convicted she faces losing her commercial driver's license for at least a year. According to the report, a driver called both the Springboro Police department and the school garage at about 6:45 a.m. to report that he'd been nearly run off the road by Bus #12. A bus mechanic immediately called Callahan on her radio and told her to pull over and stay put, according to the incident report. Several mechanics, Transportation Supervisor Jennifer Harover and police then arrived and asked the driver to step off the bus.
In the report the arresting officer writes, "Miss Callahan advised that she had not had anything to drink that morning but a soda. As Miss Callahan spoke I could detect an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming form her person."
The report also includes a witness statement by an aide who was on the bus. Vicki Schrul states, "It was just like any other day, nothing out of the ordinary happened. She did not run anyone off of the road. It did not happen." According to the district there were three students on the bus and they were safely taken the rest of the way to school by another bus driver. A district spokeswoman said the bus route transports special needs students to the junior high and high school.
Callahan's personnel file has no prior disciplinary action. In two performance evaluations from 2004 and 2007 the only item marked less than satisfactory was attendance. On her employment application from 2003 she lists previous employment as a school bus driver with Middletown City Schools from 1996 until 2000.
