Concerned parents reached out to KHOU 11 after seeing the driver being given a field sobriety test. It’s a test the district said she passed.
HOUSTON — We have an update on the bus driver pulled over this week and given a field sobriety test while driving students to campus.
Cy-Fair ISD tells KHOU 11 that she passed all tests, including a drug test. Parents who saw the driver reached out to KHOU 11 asking for answers. The driver was never arrested or charged and has been cleared of any alleged wrongdoing in connection with the incident.
Cy-Fair ISD Superintendent Dr. Douglas Killian sent a message out Thursday morning titled, “Righting a Wrong.” In it, he criticized KHOU 11 for reporting on the story and shared new information about what they say happened on Monday morning’s drive to school.
Cy-Fair ISD says the driver, who was captured in photos from concerned parents performing a field sobriety test, passed that test, along with a second field sobriety test Monday. They said she also later passed a blood-alcohol test and a drug test.
Children were on board the bus when it was pulled over. The situation prompted concerned parents to contact KHOU 11. At the time, they worried about what they had seen and said they turned to us for answers the district was not yet providing.
In a message sent out Thursday, Killian wrote the driver hit a curb on a tight turn to avoid a vehicle in the opposite lane, which prompted a police response.
And despite what multiple people told KHOU 11, Killian says the district’s review of video shows the driver was not NOT driving erratically before the traffic stop.
Killian also criticized our reporting and defended the driver, thanking her for her service.
That criticism came despite the fact that we reached out to Cy-Fair ISD multiple times throughout the day ahead of our story Tuesday night and shared the district’s statement that noted the driver passed two field sobriety tests and an alcohol test, but had been placed on paid leave pending drug test results.
KHOU 11 did not identify the driver. In fact, we blurred her image and we have since stopped showing the images.
The district did not initially respond to follow-up questions Wednesday after our first story aired.
After posting the statement Thursday morning, the district finally responded to KHOU, saying the driver’s drug test results came back negative Wednesday and she will be back on the road Friday.
We asked to see the video that the district reviewed, but they have not shared it.
We also offered Superintendent Killian an opportunity to speak with us on camera as part of this story, but the district did not respond to that offer, either.