SALT LAKE CITY – Utah emergency dispatchers recently received a very distressing call from a chaperone aboard a school bus southbound on Interstate 15.
“She can’t stay in the lanes, she’s crossing the double lines, and the adults are getting scared,” said a woman who called 911 to report the erratic bus driver during an elementary school field trip to Brigham Young University. “We have a long way to go with this lady, and we’re not feeling secure.”
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Several motorists honked their horns at bus driver Lycia Martinez as she struggled to stay on the road.
Minutes later, the caller became frantic, the Associated Press reports.
“Oh my hell. … I don’t get scared very easily, but my heart is pounding,” the caller said, according to a recording of the call cited by the AP.
Other motorists also called in Martinez’ erratic driving to 911.
“Whoever is driving this thing can’t maintain a lane,” one caller said, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Martinez was eventually directed off the interstate by the Utah Highway Patrol about 40 miles from where the trip started, and officers allegedly discovered prescription pills in her purse.
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Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Joe Dougherty told the Tribune Martinez was carrying four different prescriptions for pain, anxiety and high blood pressure with labels warning dizziness as a possible side effect.
Police arrested Martinez for an enhanced charge of driving under the influence because of the underage student passengers, as well as a class C misdemeanor for failing to operate within one lane, the Tribune reports.
She was taken to Salt Lake County jail with a bail of $2,120.
The bus was hauling 67 elementary students and seven adults from several different northern Utah schools along a very busy stretch of highway with a speed limit of 75 mph. The students were largely unaware of the situation, which Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Blane Robbins believes could have been a recipe for disaster, the AP reports.
“We really dodged a bullet,” Robbins said.
Officers handed out pencils to the fifth and sixth grade students as they waited for a new driver to escort them to a student council conference at the university.
“Talk about precious cargo,” Robbins said. “We are very fortunate nothing happened, not only with the students on the bus but with other drivers on the road.”
The AP reports Martinez, 39, had no previous incidents during the six years she has worked for the Davis School District. She’s currently on paid administrative leave while officials investigate the harrowing episode.
Bus drivers in the school district are required to submit to drug screenings when hired, and are subject to random tests at least once per year, Davis spokesman Chris Williams told the news service.
Employees taking prescription drugs are required to notify their supervisor, but Williams was unsure whether Martinez had followed the rules.
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