Bus driver en route from Chicago to Des Moines charged with driving drunk

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The driver of a bus carrying people from Chicago to Iowa City and Des Moines has been charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, second offense.

The Iowa State Patrol pulled over the MegaBus on Friday night near Iowa City. The driver, 52-year-old Carl Smiley, of Chicago, was arrested.

Des Moines television station KCCI says Smiley’s blood alcohol content tested out at one-and-a-half times the legal limit.

MegaBus says Smiley has been suspended, pending the outcome of the case against him. The company says it knew last year when Smiley was hired that he’d been convicted of drunken driving in Arkansas in 2008.

A jailer said Tuesday that Smiley remains in Johnson County custody. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.