School bus driver to plead not guilty to DUI

Cook County prosecutors Thursday announced an indictment against former Mount Prospect Elementary District 57 school bus driver Betty Burden, charged with aggravated DUI after authorities say she drove 50 schoolchildren home while intoxicated.

Burden, 54, will plead not guilty to the charges at her arraignment next month in a Rolling Meadows courtroom, said defense attorney Ernie Blomquist.

"I am prepared to contest this," said Blomquist, who indicated he has a lot of questions about events leading up to his client's arrest. "There's a lot of fight left in this case."

Burden remains free on a $10,000 bond. The Mount Prospect woman was fired March 18, a little more than a week after her DUI arrest. Police say she had a blood-alcohol content of .230 when police stopped the bus after being notified of her suspected intoxication by her supervisor, former Transportation Coordinator Vince Ramirez. Ramirez was also fired because school officials say he allowed her to drive despite reports from co-workers who said they smelled alcohol on her breath.

Burden has been "weathering the storm," said Blomquist.

Following her arrest, strangers approached her in stores and at home, but that seems to have diminished, said Blomquist as "people are coming to their senses about a person's right to be presumed innocent."

Burden next appears in court on May 26.