Bad Time to Overdose: While Driving School Bus Full of Kids

Lisa Byrd facing child endangerment charges after she's revived with Narcan: cops
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 21, 2019 7:11 AM CST
Bus Driver Overdoses, Crashes With Dozen Kids on Board: Cops
Lisa Byrd   (Newark Police Department)

A school bus carrying a dozen special-needs children crashed into a tree in Newark on Wednesday, but police say that wasn't the worst part. Though no kids were injured, the driver of the bus, found slumped over the wheel, had overdosed on heroin and had to be revived with Narcan, reports CNN. Lisa Byrd, 57, is charged with 12 counts of child endangerment, driving while impaired, and possession of drug paraphernalia, per NJ.com. "This is a pathetic situation," Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said at a press conference, noting Byrd's license was suspended from 1996 to 2006. He didn't provide details but said police were looking into her current license status.

WABC obtained video showing the bus, which had departed Fourteenth Avenue Elementary School, slowly crossing an intersection before jumping a curb and hitting a small tree around 1:10pm. Byrd's employer, F&A Transport, has been "removed from transporting children" until an investigation wraps up, according to Newark Public Schools. "Endangering the lives of Newark children is something we will not tolerate," says Mayor Ras J. Baraka, per CNN. "We are grateful that none of the students were injured and that no other residents were harmed." Ambrose said the students, aged 5 to 13, were "shaken up," per NBC New York. They were taken to hospitals for observation before parents picked them up. (A 12-year-old school bus crash survivor just met the people who saved his life.)

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