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Pickens County bus driver arrested for DUI
The 59-year-old driver faces 40 charges. Parents are furious with the school district.
PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. - There is a lot of shock and disbelief for mom Chelsie Medley. Her first-grade son was on a Pickens County School bus Friday driven by 59-year-old Jeffrey Tucker, a man police now say was driving drunk.
Minutes after her son was dropped off the bus it ended up in a ditch on Fortner Road.
Luckily, the students on the bus were not seriously hurt.
"The bus is barely on two wheels and had that been anywhere else on this mountain, they would have toppled over and hurt every single one of those kids," Medley said.
The scary situation has parents fired up. Several moms told FOX 5 off camera that the district failed them.
One mom who did not want to be identified said she had three kids on the bus. When they got home one of them told her the bus driver smelled like booze. She believes she is the reason Tucker got busted.
"We called 911 and reported he smelled like alcohol, and they said they would go back and breathalyze him," the mom said.
Pickens County Schools and investigators say no students were hurt. Parents dispute that. One mom told us her son has a minor concussion. Besides physical injuries, other parents are now worried about psychological ones.
"Both of the little girls got home they were crying," the mom said. "This morning one woke up and said she's still shaken."
Medley says her son will not ride the bus again.
"He's probably going to be doing after school because I don't trust Pickens County to make sure the bus drivers are safe to be with," Medley said.
The school district says tucker is facing several charges including DUI and 40 counts of reckless conduct.
At this point, Pickens County has not said whether Tucker still has a job.