AURORA | A Cherry Creek School District bus driver admitted Wednesday to drinking vodka and cold medicine before driving a bus carrying 11 mentally disabled students on a field trip.
According to a report from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, Rodolfo Luna, 36, said he consumed vodka and cold medicine Nov. 20 before driving a bus carrying students from Liberty Middle School in Aurora. According to district officials, Luna drove the bus on two trips carrying a total of 11 students. Luna was fired on Friday, according to district officials.
An unnamed witness sent Cherry Creek district officials an email after witnessing Luna throwing away vodka bottles in the parking lot of the Village Inn restaurant at Parker and Arapahoe roads around 9:30 a.m.
Cherry Creek officials contacted Luna, who said he was at Liberty Middle School. The district’s transportation director drove to the school to pick up Luna after district officials called the police.
“As soon as we learned of it, our transportation director went to Liberty to go get him,” said Cherry Creek district spokeswoman Tustin Amole. “We called 911 at about the same time.”
According to the sheriff’s report, Luna had already left Liberty when officials arrived. Authorities tracked down the bus near South Buckley Road and East Peakview Avenue. They returned to a district bus yard, where Luna failed standard roadside sobriety tests.
Luna admitted to drinking vodka and cold medicine before driving the bus that morning. As of Nov. 21, Luna was being held in the Arapahoe County Detention Facility on a $1,000 bond.
Amole said Luna, who started with the district in July, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
“Obviously, we’re very disturbed by this. We do random drug and alcohol tests of our drivers,” Amole said, adding that a private company conducts the tests monthly. “It’s rare that we find anyone.”