New Jersey school bus driver accused of DWI after vehicle crashes into house

WEST CALDWELL, N.J. — A school bus driver who crashes into a New Jersey home after dropping students off at a high school on Friday morning is accused of driving while intoxicated, authorities said.

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According to a news release from the West Caldwell Police Department, Anthony R. Stuckey, 37, of Newark, was charged with 15 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, DUI with minor passengers, operating a commercial vehicle with a BAC (blood alcohol content) of .04% or higher, driving while intoxicated, operating a commercial vehicle without proper CDL (school endorsement), failure to maintain a lane, careless driving, and reckless driving.

Officers were called to a home in West Caldwell at about 8:39 a.m. EST and observed that the bus had left the road and had crashed into the north side of the ranch-style home, NJ.com reported. Police said Stuckey was the only person on the bus; moments earlier, he had dropped off students at West Caldwell Tech High School, according to News12 New Jersey.

The bus could be seen partially inside the residence as officers arrived, WNYW-TV reported.

“I was making a right turn at the light when I saw the bus flying right into the house,” Karen Zieleniewski told WABC-TV. “It was so loud. It just went into the house and a huge boom and that was it.”

According to police, the crash shifted the house’s foundation and compromised its structural integrity, WNBC-TV reported. The 13-ton bus broke through the floorboards and was angled into the basement, according to the television station.

“It actually went through all my computer and everything is gone,” homeowner Siva Thangram told WCBS-TV.

Stuckey was helped out of the bus and treated for minor injuries at the scene, according to NJ.com. The home was unoccupied at the time of the crash, police said.

“If I had been working from home, yes I would have been there,” Thangram told WNBC.

“It’s a busy road, it’s a little dangerous,” West Caldwell resident Nicole Perez told WABC. “They recently put up these guardrails right here to protect some of these houses because there was another crash a couple of years ago.”

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