SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

School Bus Driver Charged With DWI
Tuesday, June 5, 2007

HAMMONTON - School district bus driver Regina Durham faces two counts of driving while intoxicated and other offenses after the school bus she was driving collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Fairview Avenue and Liberty Street on Monday morning, police said.

Fourteen students from Waterford Township were on the bus at the time of the crash.

No injuries were reported in the accident, which took place at 7:21 a.m., police said.

Durham, 45, of Williamstown, was attempting to make a left turn off Fairview Avenue on to Liberty Street when the bus struck the front of a vehicle driven by Anthony Carrelli, 38, of Collings Lakes, Police Chief Frank Ingemi said.

Patrolman Richard Jones charged Durham with driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated with a commercial driver's license, reckless driving and careless driving, Ingemi said.

Breathalyzer tests were administered at Kessler Memorial Hospital, police said.

Durham has been suspended from her duties with pay. An administrative hearing before schools Superintendent Mary Lou DeFrancisco is scheduled Thursday. A preliminary hearing on the charges in Hammonton Municipal Court was scheduled Tuesday.

Durham was the driver for one of three runs from Waterford. She had just dropped off students at nearby Hammonton High School before heading to the middle school.

DeFrancisco declined to comment on the incident, but noted that the district has a policy in place to deal with such disciplinary matters.

"When anyone who breaks any rule, we follow those procedures. The person goes on suspension usually with pay. The next step of that would be a hearing," DeFrancisco said.

Waterford Superintendent Gary Dentino was informed of the incident by the township's school board representative, Ralph Condo.

"We're very disappointed. At this point we're still awaiting further details," Dentino said.

Middle school principal Gene Miller declined comment, referring all inquiries to DeFrancisco's office.

"We're looking for the local police to conduct a full investigation," Board of Education President Loretta Rehmann said.

Monday's incident comes just 30 days after a 5-year-old boy from the district's Early Childhood Education Center was found strapped in his safety seat at the district's bus garage on Fourth Street.

The boy had been left there for about an hour before he was found.

The driver, Deborah Sbarra, was immediately suspended and eventually fired. Her bus aide on that run, Anna DiFillippo, eventually submitted her resignation. The child was not injured in the incident.

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