Drunk driving bus driver sentenced

ALFRED, N.Y. (WIVB) - She took students on a wild and dangerous ride. The former school bus driver learned her fate for being drunk behind the wheel.

Defense attorney Thomas Trbovich said, "She mad a very bad judgment."

55-year-old Martha Thompson came to court to learn her fate for driving a school bus with a .15 blood alcohol content last May while 37 children were on board the bus. This is surveillance video from that ride in the Alfred Almond School District in Allegany County.

The children reported that she was going 70 mph at one point, ran over a mailbox, rolled backwards down a hill. The children eventually went out the emergency exit and refused to get back on.

Her attorney says Thompson had a bad reaction of a beer and her medication.

"She is very sorry. She is very sorry to the bus company. She's embarrassed. She's very sorry to the children. She never, ever would intentionally put any of those children especially her own in any type of risk," said Trbovich.

On her guilty plea to 37 counts of endangering the welfare of a child and felony driving while intoxicated, Thompson will spend the next 12 weekends in jail, six months home electric monitoring, five years probation, and mandatory counseling.

Allegany County Assistant District Attorney Michael Finn said, "I think this was a just, appropriate outcome in this case. A potential tragedy was averted by the grace of God. Thankfully, none of the passengers, nor Mrs. Thompson, was injured as a result of this sequence of events."

Trbovich added, "The fact that my client has no criminal history. No one was injured, but this has been a really good thing because it's turned her life around and now she's getting the help that she needs."