Published: September 21, 2009 07:25 pm      

Bus driver charged with felony DUI

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Misdemeanor charges against a Hamilton County bus driver involved in an accident while students were onboard have been dropped and felony charges have been filed.

Tonya Glass, 41, of McLeansboro, passed out behind the wheel of the bus while she was driving on East Littlewood Road near the Hamilton/Jefferson County line at 3:43 p.m. on May 27 during an afternoon bus route.

According to officers at the scene, after Glass passed out, the bus drifted off the road, struck a culvert and a tree. When the bus came to a stop, students turned off the key to the ignition and some went to a nearby house for help. Students attempted to open the exit doors on the bus but it took emergency personnel to get the doors open.

Glass was taken to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital and tickets were issued for failure to reduce speed and driving under the influence. Formal charges have been pending an investigation which was conducted by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Illinois State Police Crime lab.

Two counts of misdemeanor driving under the influence were dropped on Monday. Two counts of aggravated driving under the influence have been filed. The Class 4 felony charges state Glass was driving a school bus while under the influence of a prescription drug or combination of drugs that rendered her incapable of safly driving the bus, which had passengers under the age of 18 on board.

A pretrial conference in the case was held Monday and a preliminary hearing in the case has been set for Nov. 2.