Georgia school bus driver faces dozens of charges after allegedly drunkenly veering busload of kids into ditch

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A school bus driver in Georgia is facing a DUI charge and 40 additional counts of reckless conduct after allegedly veering off the road and crashing a bus full of students into a ditch on Friday. 

Jeffrey Tucker, 59, is accused of being under the influence of alcohol when he crashed a bus full of elementary school students around 4:30 p.m. on Fortner Road at McGinnis Acres in Jasper. 

Pickens County School District said in a statement Friday that the bus had an accident that afternoon, though no students were injured or needed medical attention and no other vehicles were involved. 

"Afterwards, the Georgia State Patrol arrested the bus driver and initially charged him with DUI, failure to maintain lane, and 40 counts of reckless conduct. District personnel have either made contact by phone or have left messages for all parents with children on the bus," Superintendent Tony Young said in a statement with the Board of Education. "The District takes this matter very seriously; student safety is our highest priority and utmost concern. Once law enforcement has completed its investigation, we will conduct our own review into the facts and circumstances surrounding this egregious event." 

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Jeffrey Tucker, 59, is charged with with a DUI, failure to maintain lane, and 40 counts of reckless conduct. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

FOX 5 Atlanta reported that some parents disagree with the school district’s account that no students were injured, claiming that some children suffered minor concussions. 

UNITED STATES - APRIL 11: A school bus sits parked in Columbus, N.M., on Sunday, April 11, 2021. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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"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," one parent, whose first-grade son got off the bus right before the crash, told the outlet. "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."