Court documents: Children noticed CMS bus driver was driving recklessly, possibly impaired

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police say a school bus driver who was arrested last week on the job was so impaired that she didn’t know how many stops she’d made or where the bus route began.

On Aug. 29, police charged 70-year-old Sylvia Ann Dollard with driving while impaired and 21 counts of misdemeanor child abuse. Dollard was driving a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus with students onboard from Oakdale Elementary.

Channel 9 learned on Tuesday, that it was actually the children riding on the bus who first noticed something was wrong. According to court documents, the children were crying and some suffered minor injuries by the time police got to them.

The documents state some of the kids on the bus called their parents to tell them Dollard was driving “in a reckless manner” and might be impaired.

Parents reported the bus was missing stops, driving recklessly, and stopping abruptly.

One parent finally stopped the school bus in north Charlotte by parking in front of it.

Court documents also state the bus driver, later identified as Dollard, couldn’t tell police how many kids were originally on the bus, how many stops she’d made, or where she started her route.

Police say they got Dollard’s consent and searched the bus where they found “a white pill bottle with no label containing several types of unknown pills” in her purse.

Officers gave Dollard a field sobriety test and said she performed poorly and later admitted she was not under the care of a doctor or taking any medication.

CMS has confirmed that Dollard has been suspended.

Dollard’s work history reveals that she has worked for the district on and off since 2014. According to CMS, Dollard recently returned after a previous suspension without pay in 2022.

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