A criminal charge was filed Thursday in Crow Wing County District Court against Joel Jude Meyer, accusing the 44-year-old Pillager man of driving his school bus while under the influence of alcohol.
Meyer was arrested Wednesday after he failed to drop a 5-year-old kindergarten student off at Family of Christ Lutheran School in Baxter. The boy was found unharmed in the bus at Meyer's residence. He had been on the bus about two hours.
Meyer was charged with alcohol-related operation of a school bus or Head Start bus, a gross misdemeanor. Following his arraignment he was released from jail on his own recognizance but with conditions. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 23.
According to the criminal complaint:
¥ At 10:23 a.m. the boy's father contacted the Baxter Police Department to inform officials that their son had not been dropped off by the school bus at his school, Family of Christ Lutheran School on Woida Road in Baxter. The boy had been picked up by the bus about 8:10 a.m. Wednesday. The father, who was informed of his son's absence by the school, also had contacted Reichert Bus Service.
Bus driver Joel Meyer was charged Thursday with DUI after failing to drop off a student.
¥ A Baxter police investigator went to Reichert, which owns the bus and operated the bus route, and was told by Reichert owner Mark Moran that the boy had been found on the bus.
¥ About 11:40 a.m. Moran delivered Meyer to the police department. Meyer told investigators that he picked the boy up between 8:10-8:15 a.m. Wednesday, drove the remainder of his route and dropped off children at Baxter Elementary School. Meyer said he was supposed to have dropped the boy off at Family of Christ Lutheran School but he forgot and drove the bus to his home and took a nap. Meyer said he was woke up by Moran about 10:30 a.m. and notified that the boy was still on the bus.
¥ Meyer told the investigator he had two drinks the previous evening and ended drinking about 7 p.m. A preliminary blood test showed Meyer had an alcohol concentration of .024 percent. Meyer failed two of three other field sobriety tests.
The boy was unharmed and returned to school later Wednesday, school officials said.
Baxter police arrested Meyer under the state zero tolerance statute regarding bus drivers and blood-alcohol content.
According to the statute, it is a crime for any person to drive, operate or be in physical control of any class of school bus or Head Start bus within this state when there is physical evidence present in the person's body of the consumption of any alcohol.
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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