Santa had better put 10-year-old Troy Luna at the top of the Nice List this Christmas season.
Luna, of Diablo Grande, a neighborhood in Stanislaus County, California, called 9-1-1 earlier this week to report his bus driver’s driving. Luna was one of between 40 and 50 students ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade who were passengers on the bus according to the CHP.
As Luna entered the bus, he smelled something odd coming from the bus driver, 51-year-old Karolyn Denise Ray. After Luna had noticed that Ray had missed a turn and driven onto the highway, he called 9-1-1.
“She stepped on the brakes really hard, and a few kids went flying and hit their heads on the seats,” Luna told KOVR-TV. “All my friends were trying to talk me out of it. I said, ‘I don’t care, I don’t feel right,’ so I just did it.” Luna said that other children on board were crying and panicking when he made the call to 9-1-1.
Lo and behold, when officers arrived, they discovered that Ray was under the influence of a controlled substance. Ray was arrested and subsequently charged with driving under the influence and child endangerment, according to KTXL. It will take a few weeks for testing to determine what substance or substances Ray was on when she was driving the bus.
“I think he is to be commended,” said Randy Fillpot, superintendent of the Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District. “I congratulated him yesterday morning at school; he absolutely did the right thing. When you suspect the safety of your peers is in jeopardy you do the right thing and in that case it was call 9-1-1.”
Law enforcement agreed.
“We are relieved that the children knew who to call in an emergency situation, so I consider this kid a hero,” said CHP Officer Thomas Olsen.
One wonders, “What does Santa bring a child who just saved, literally, a bus-load of other children, himself, and a soon-to-be-on-the-Naughty-List bus driver?”
Meanwhile, as I just mentioned, not only has Ray plummeted to the bottom of Santa’s Naughty List and looking at a stocking full of coal, she’s also looking at a whole host of “unwanted gifts” thanks to her latest transgression.
In addition to the California DUI, which carries up to six months in jail and up to $1,000 in fines, she also looking at child endangerment charges.
Under California Vehicle Code section 23572, a first time DUI conviction where a minor under the age of 14 is in the car will bring an additional 48 hours in a county jail. A second time DUI conviction will bring an additional 10 days in jail. A third time will bring an additional 30 days in jail. A fourth will bring an additional 90 days. Furthermore, these penalties are to be served consecutively, not concurrently with the underlying DUI penalties that Ray will be facing.
The post Boy on Top of Santa’s Nice List after Calling 9-1-1 on DUI School Bus Driver appeared first on Law Offices of Taylor and Taylor - DUI Central.