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MONROE, Sevier County — A central Utah school bus driver has been arrested for allegedly driving a bus with children on board while his blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit, according to police.
David Arnold Oldroyd, 57, was booked into the Sevier County Jail on Friday for investigation of six counts of DUI with a passenger under the age of 16.
Sevier County emergency dispatchers received an anonymous tip that day that "one of the bus drivers had been drinking and was going to pick up students from the South Sevier schools," according to a police booking affidavit.
A sheriff's deputy saw the bus pulling into the middle school.
"I stepped onto his bus and saw over a dozen kids on the bus. I asked Dave about some of his trip plans and while talking to Dave I could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from Dave," the deputy wrote in his affidavit. "It appeared to me that more than six of the students were elementary students who Dave had picked up at the elementary school and driven to the middle school."
The deputy then talked to a supervisor to arrange for the students to be moved to another bus. After the students were off the bus, the deputy questioned Oldroyd again.
"I asked Dave when the last time he had had anything to drink and he said last night. I asked him if he had any more during the day and he wouldn't say," the deputy said, according to the affidavit.
The deputy conducted field sobriety tests with Oldroyd and noted that he performed poorly on balancing tests, the affidavit states. He was then transported to the Sevier County Jail where he was given a Breathalyzer test. His blood-alcohol level measured at 0.15%, or three times the legal limit, according to the booking document.
The Sevier School District released a prepared statement saying administrators took prompt action as soon as they were made aware of the situation.
"Parents of students assigned to the bus were also notified immediately that their children would be coming home on a different bus (buses were combined). A new driver has been assigned."
According to court records, Oldroyd, of Annabella, Sevier County, was also charged in Sevier Justice Court on April 30 with having an open container in his vehicle, a class C misdemeanor, and convicted of the same crime in 2007. He was also charged on Sept. 17, 2022, with carrying a weapon while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and intoxication, both class C misdemeanors.
