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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A 49-year-old New Mexican man who drove a school bus carrying 25 students while under the influence of alcohol has been sentenced to 1½ years in federal prison.
Duane Aaron Skeet of Chichiltah (chi-CHIL'-tah) was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Albuquerque on his March guilty plea to felony child abuse.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for New Mexico said Skeet endangered the lives and health of 25 Navajo Nation children on Sept. 24, 2018 by consuming alcohol before arriving for work as a Bureau of Indian Education employee at a school on the tribe's reservation.
The office said the students ages 5-12 weren't injured despite being thrown back and forth inside the bus as it swerved, nearly went off the road and almost flipped while making a sharp turn.
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