Pocono News Section

School Van Driver Suspected of DUI

School Van Driver Suspected of DUI - Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 11:25AM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 @ 11:25am EST
LACKAWANNA COUNTY - A Mid Valley School District van driver is off the job suspected of transporting a student while under the influence.
Police say the driver is 39-year-old Jennifer O'Rourke of Throop.
Eyewitness News has learned she's the daughter of former Mid Valley School Director Kenneth Novak.
Mid Valley School Superintendent Randy Parry wouldn't confirm the woman's identity saying it's a personnel matter.
He did say a van driver was suspended without pay after Tuesday's incident.
An outraged parent spoke to Eyewitness News Thursday morning about the harrowing ride her daughter experienced.

"I've lost sleep over the fact that my daughter could have been killed," said Nicole Shotto of Dickson City. "I had nightmares of a van rolling over and my daughter dying. My daughter had nightmares already."
Ms. Shotto can barely keep her composure about what her 15-year-old daughter, Tamara, experienced.
The teen was the lone passenger Tuesday afternoon on a Mid Valley School van driven by O'Rourke. The teen-ager knew there were problems almost immediately.

"She noticed that Jennifer had veered towards a snow bank and she thought well, maybe, she's getting out of the way of something," said Ms. Shotto.
"And then she (O'Rourke) went to hit a wall. And then they go on 81 and she (Tamara) said we were in and out of lanes and her head was bobbing and her hands were falling off the steering wheel."
Then Ms. Shotto's daughter watched as O'Rourke missed the proper exit.
"At that time, she (O'Rourke) had woken up and seen that the exit was missed and she swerved and she (Tamara) said she felt like the van went up on 2-wheels."

The shaken teen got home unhurt and told her mom who called the school. That's when police got involved.
"Throop officers responded to the Mid Valley School at their request for a minor motor vehicle accident," Throop Police Chief Kevin Jones told Eyewitness News. "Upon arrival officers learned that the vehicle crash actually occurred somewhere else."
Chief Jones says O'Rourke had already completed one student drop-off in Dickson City and was back at the school Tuesday afternoon to pick up even more students. But she failed a field sobriety test in the parking lot and that's when police took her into custody.

O'Rourke was taken to Mid Valley Hospital for a blood alcohol test.
Chief Jones says the results could take 2-to-3 weeks.
"Once the results are received we'll take the appropriate action," said Chief Jones.