Bus Driver Charged with DUI After Field Trip

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Sully District Station – Troy Reynolds, 48, of Maryland was charged Thursday evening with driving while intoxicated and nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for child. Reynolds was arrested while driving a school bus carrying 44 children and four adults back from a field trip to Cox Farms in Centreville. The bus veered off Braddock Road and into a ditch on its way back to Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C.

The bus struck a rock, causing the rim to bend and the rear tire to flatten. Reynolds continued driving until the adults on the bus convinced him to follow a second bus, which was also returning to the school from the field trip. The two buses stopped in a parking lot in the 15000 block of Conference Center Drive in Chantilly.

Officers from the Sully District Station and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel responded to the parking lot. Nine children were treated on the scene for injuries that were deemed non-life threatening. Reynolds failed a field sobriety test and was taken to the Adult Detention Center in Fairfax County. He was found to have a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .20. The legal limit for BAC in Virginia is .08.

Reynolds was charged with driving while intoxicated – 2nd within 5-10 years with a child, commercial DWI with child endangerment, and nine counts of gross, wanton, or reckless care for child. Additionally, Reynolds’ license was found to be revoked in Virginia from a prior DWI and suspended in Maryland. He was also found in possession of a fraudulent medical card. Reynolds was held on no bond. 

Officers assigned to our Motor Carrier Safety (MCS) unit also responded to assist with the investigation. MCS detectives found a total of 18 safety violations between the two buses transporting the children on the field trip. A third bus that responded to replace the damaged bus was also taken out of service for safety violations. MCS determined that none of the bus drivers were properly licensed to operate a school bus.

The children on both buses and their chaperones were taken to the Criminal Justice Academy in Chantilly. This facility trains new police officers for Fairfax County, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office as well as police officers for the towns of Herndon and Vienna. A total of 93 students and eight adults played in the gym while the investigation was underway with police cadets and training instructors as well as Fire and Rescue personnel. Fairfax County Public School bus later took the students back to their school.