Former Minnesota School Bus Driver Admits to DWI While Working

Rush City, MN (KROC-AM News) - A former Minnesota school bus driver has admitted to a drunk driving charge connected to a crash that occurred earlier this year while she was transporting 45 students to school.

59-year-old Kara Ffrench of Harris was arrested in February after the school bus she was driving went off a road in Chisago County and became stuck in the yard next to a farm field. She was transporting students for the Rush City School District at the time and officials noted that about two-thirds of the children on the bus were elementary students.

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The criminal complaint filed against Ffrench says a Chisago County Sheriff's Sergeant detected a strong odor of alcohol on her breath and noticed other signs of impairment. The Sergeant also noted that the bus driver was in possession of an insulated coffee mug and reported that it "smelled of coffee with some kind of alcoholic beverage added."

She was charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of DWI involving a commercial vehicle and a school bus. The charges alleged that a preliminary breath test measured her blood-alcohol-concentration at nearly .2. The court document says another test that was later administered at the Chisago County Sheriff's Office measured her all BAC at .17, which is more than four times above the legal limit for driving commercial vehicles and more than double the legal limit for driving many vehicle.

READ MORE: Charges- Minnesota School Bus Driver BAC Tested at 4X Legal Limit

Ffrench today entered a guilty plea to one of the gross misdemeanor DWI charges. She is scheduled to be sentenced in November.