FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — A Flagler County school bus driver is accused of driving drunk with dozens of middle school students on board.
The sheriff’s office says Mark Michael McNeil, of Ormond Beach, showed up for an afternoon work shift on Wednesday – and things went downhill from there.
Investigators say a co-worker told supervisors McNeil smelled like alcohol, but somehow the 60-year-old managed to pick up a bus anyway.
In fact, deputies say McNeil grabbed a school bus that wasn’t even assigned to him and took off driving toward Buddy Taylor Middle School, where he picked up about 40 kids and began dropping them off at their bus stops.
Investigators say dispatch tried to call McNeil on the radio but heard nothing back at first. Eventually, deputies say he got on the radio and told school transportation officials that he was suffering from some sort of medical emergency.
According to law enforcement, McNeil’s boss intercepted him on his route – finding the bus near the intersection of Karas Trail and Karat Path.
“McNeil exited the bus and fell to the ground complaining he couldn’t breathe,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a news release. “Flagler County Fire Rescue responded and transported him to AdventHealth.”
Deputies were dispatched to the hospital where they say McNeil then tried to get away. They stopped him, authorities say, and reported McNeil appeared intoxicated while resisting arrest.
“This drunk thought it was okay to endanger 40 children and other drivers by driving a loaded school bus significantly impaired,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “Thankfully, no one was hurt as a result of his actions. I commend the employee who reported him to school officials. Anyone whose careless actions endangers lives of children and other drivers deserves to be locked up, which he was.”
McNeil was arrested and charged with DUI with passengers under 18, resisting an officer without violence and child neglect. The sheriff’s office said he could ultimately face 39 more counts of child neglect – one for each student aboard.
He was booked just before 5 p.m. Wednesday – but has since bonded out.
According to deputies, his blood-alcohol content level was four times the legal limit.
Florida Highway Patrol actually cited McNeil just three days earlier for failing to obey a stop sign when he was in a crash along the same school bus route, according to the sheriff’s office.
