Driver charged with DUI after crashing bus into road sign
A charter bus driver landed in a Phoenix jail after he was arrested for DUI while driving a busload of cheerleaders home to Texas after a weekend competition in Las Vegas.
According to a Department of Public Safety report, the accident happened at about 3 a.m. Monday just outside Wickenburg, northwest of the Valley.
Apparently the bus driver, 61-year-old Alejandro Lopez, was driving eastbound on US 60 and turned eastbound on Highway 74 when he somehow lost control of the vehicle and struck a highway road sign.
DPS says the bus was carrying 30 people including 17 children under the age of 18, a second driver and 11 other adults.
One of the passengers reportedly called 9-1-1 to tell DPS that he believed the bus driver appeared impaired.
Horizon City cheerleading coach Charlie Young said he chartered the Los Paisanos bus and two drivers. On the way back, he said he noticed the driver swerving back and forth when the driver hit a stop sign and broke the side mirror. Young called DPS and forced the driver to pull over.
According to court documents, an officer who interviewed Lopez said he could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from him. His eyes were reportedly bloodshot and watery and he reportedly performed poorly on the field sobriety test.
The court documents report that Lopez's BAC was .193, or more than double the legal limit of .08.
Lopez is facing 17 felony counts of aggravated DUI, with a blood alcohol content of .15 or over, while carrying passengers under the age of 15. He also faces 30 counts of endangerment, plus several other misdemeanor charges.
The second bus driver was able to continue the trip, but students had to wait nearly 7 hours for another bus to arrive.
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