School bus driver charged with aggravated DUI after crash
A school bus driver has been charged with crashing a bus Monday afternoon in Lombard while driving under the influence.
Lauren B. Williams, 34, of the 4S700 block of Innisbrook Drive in Naperville, is charged with felony aggravated DUI – school bus driver, according to DuPage County court records.
There were no students on the bus at the time of the crash, just Williams and a bus aide, according to a prosecutor’s petition to detain Williams pretrial.
Court records did not indicate what school district the bus was serving. Williams has worked for Sunrise Transportation for about a month, her attorney, Matthew Caruso, said.
On Tuesday, DuPage County Judge Joshua Dieden ordered her to stay in jail while awaiting trial.
Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Frahm told Dieden that the school bus went up on a curb and crashed into a junction box around 12:50 p.m. in the 300 block of West St. Charles Road. The driver got out, got back in and drove the bus into a store parking lot.
According to a petition for detention, the bus aide told police the bus transports mentally disabled children. They had just finished dropping off the last students. The bus aide told police she had already told her supervisors she did not want to ride with Williams again because she had never been on a bus with a driver who drove “so horribly.”
The petition stated Williams was prescribed gabapentin, a painkiller/anti-seizure medication, for anxiety and alcohol cravings; the beta blocker propranolol for anxiety; and the antidepressant mirtazapine. The labels for all three indicate they can interfere with the ability to drive safely, according to the petition.
Frahm said Williams appeared to have difficulty holding up her head or keeping her eyes open, stumbled and swayed as they removed her from the bus, and had to be supported by an officer to keep from falling over.
The petition stated that her school bus driving permit was issued in August.
Williams has a 2009 conviction for misdemeanor DUI and a 2014 conviction for misdemeanor reckless driving (reduced from a DUI charge), according to the petition.
Her next court date is Oct. 7.