A school bus driver who showed up drunk at Park High School in Cottage Grove last winter has been sentenced to 45 days of home electronic monitoring and three years’ probation.
Joshua Nathaniel Lueth, 37, of Hastings, pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor DWI and was sentenced Friday in Washington County District Court.
Joshua Nathaniel Lueth (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)
A plea agreement he reached with the Cottage Grove city attorney also includes a stayed 319-day jail term and dismissal of two other charges in the case: a second gross misdemeanor DWI and misdemeanor obstructing legal process.
Lueth was working for Hastings-based Big River Bus Co. at the time of the Feb. 26 incident. He held a Class B commercial driver’s license with a passenger endorsement, but not the required school bus endorsement because he failed a background check, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Just over two months earlier, Lueth picked up a charge in western Wisconsin for driving drunk with a passenger under the age of 16. The Pepin County case was settled in June, with Lueth getting a 12-day jail sentence and his license revoked for 14 months.
Tom Severson, Big River’s chief operating officer, said in March that Lueth was fired following his arrest in Cottage Grove. He had been hired on Dec. 3 after passing a pre-employment background check and drug and alcohol screening, according to Severson.
After completing training, Lueth presented a valid temporary license with passenger and school bus endorsements to Big River staff, Severson said, adding that the company has since reviewed its administrative process.
The criminal complaint gives the following details:
Shortly after 3 p.m., Cottage Grove police received a report of a possible drunken driver in front of the school. The caller, a school employee, said she was trying to stop the school bus driver from leaving the property.
When police arrived at the school, an officer asked Lueth if he had driven the bus to the school. Lueth responded to the officer that he “has a job” and to leave him alone because he “has the last half of his route to complete.”
The officer noticed there were two students on board the bus, ages 15 and 16. The 15-year-old uses a wheelchair, the complaint said. School staff said Leuth was having trouble earlier using the lift that helped the student using the wheelchair into the bus and had leaned on the lift to maintain his balance.
Officers saw that Lueth was speaking slowly and slurring his words, that his eyes were red and glassy, and that he was having trouble maintaining his balance. Lueth said that he hadn’t taken any prescribed medication or controlled substances, or consumed alcohol.
Lueth was arrested, and while at the police station tried to spit at an officer. A blood sample taken two hours after his arrest showed his BAC was 0.289 percent. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is .08, however, it is zero when driving a bus.
Video obtained by investigators showed that during the drive to the high school, Lueth crossed the center lane several times on U.S. 61. Upon arriving at the school, he pulled into a non-bus lane and had to make a U-turn against the flow of traffic.
Shortly after he arrived at the school, a staff member took the bus keys away from him.
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