DWI Charges Against Whitesboro School Bus Driver Dropped
A Whitesboro school bus driver who was accused of driving more than a dozen students while impaired on prescription drugs has had charges against her dropped.
The charges were dropped by the Onondaga County District Attorney's office. It was initially reported by New York State Police that 46-year-old Michele Daly of Whitesboro was driving a lacrosse team with 20 students and two coaches to a game. During that trip student athletes reported Daly was swerving and driving erratically.
According to Syracuse.com, the reason for charges being dropped was that there was not sufficient evidence for the charges to stick. The article states,
"There is absolutely no evidence that she had drugs in her system that would
support the charge of Driving While Under the Influence of Drugs and there is insufficient evidence to support an ethical prosecution of any other charge," District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in a news release.
The article goes on to explain that the video that exists of the swerving bus did not match up with the description from the 911 call. In fact, the parents of the student who took the video would not allow police to talk to that student. Another criticism from the Onondaga County District Attorney's office was of the Whitesboro School District. Their complaint was that police were not allowed to talk to any of the coaches or students on the bus directly.
The ultimate decision to drop charges against Daly was made after blood tests were sent to both State Police labs and an independent lab. Those lab results showed only a small amount of prescription medication in Daly's system.