School bus driver suspected of DUI was on way to pick up students
A Clark County School District bus driver who crashed in April while on the way to pick up students had three times the legal limit of alcohol in her system, according to an arrest report the Las Vegas Review-Journal obtained Friday.
Las Vegas police did not initially suspect that Tasianna Caver was impaired when she struck the rear bumper of a car while driving an otherwise empty school bus about 3 p.m. April 26, according to the report. The crash near Cabana Drive and Desert Inn Road caused minor damage.
An arriving officer did not smell alcohol on Caver — “just perfume,” the report said. She also did not slur her words when she explained that the crash happened just as she was looking down to manipulate her radio.
But because of school district policy, Caver was transported for drug and alcohol testing. At an urgent care about two hours after the crash, the 28-year-old tested for a blood alcohol level of 0.248, according to the report.
It is illegal for a driver in Nevada to operate a car if they test for a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher.
After Caver tested positive for alcohol, officers responded to the urgent care center. This time, they noticed “a slight odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage” from Caver’s breath, according to the report, noting that “the perfume had worn off.”
Caver passed two of three field sobriety tests, the report said. She denied drinking alcohol, and told police she was not taking any medications.
Court records show she faces one count of driving under the influence and one count of failure to pay full attention while driving. She was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and released the next day on her own recognizance.
Caver had worked as a bus driver since May 2016 until she resigned May 2, school district spokesman Mauricio Marin said. She was one of two school district bus drivers suspected of driving drunk while on the clock last month.
The second driver crashed into a “fixed object” April 29 while students were on board, Marin said. It happened in the area of Scott Robinson Boulevard and West Lone Mountain Road in North Las Vegas.
Marin refused to name the second driver. He also did not provide the time of the crash and did not name the school that the students attended.
None of the students were hurt, Marin said. The driver was terminated.
The Review-Journal continues to seek information on the second driver.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter. Review-Journal reporter Rachel Crosby contributed to this report.