School bus driver charged with DUI, child abuse for trip with Colo. high school athletes

CBS Denver reports Burton Carpenter is charged with 36 counts of child abuse, reckless endangerment and DUI, and that his blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

One of the coaches said Carpenter was straddling lanes and had to be directed into the school parking lot, where he collided with a parked truck. According to CBS Denver, another witness said Carpenter told him he had been drinking vodka in a 32 ounce Gatorade bottle.

Police say when he was driving the Mountain Range freshman football team to a game on that occasion his eyes were bloodshot and his speech was slurred, and he was so intoxicated he stumbled down the bus steps and caught himself on the side of the bus.

They say his blood-alcohol content was .20.

Officials with the Adams 12 School District told CBS Denver they do background checks on all of their bus drivers, and that Carptenter came up clean. But the station reports that its search of state records showed he lost his job as a nurse last year because of substance abuse.

Carpenter is expected to enter a plea in December.