A bus driver for Colchester Schools is in hot water after a student allegedly caught him texting behind the wheel Wednesday morning.
Police say the whole incident was caught on camera when a Colchester High student shot a 20- to 30-second cellphone video of her bus driver allegedly texting while driving. The student's mom forwarded her daughter's video to police.
Investigators are withholding that video, but say it clearly shows William Blanchard, 43, holding his cellphone, pressing multiple buttons, while driving the kids to school around 7:30 a.m.
Blanchard is employed by Mountain Transit.
"You could clearly see he wasn't looking at the road for a few seconds at a time. So, traveling a distance, not looking at the road, driving a large vehicle, carrying several children is a very dangerous thing to do," Colchester Police Cpl. Roger Fisher said.
Blanchard was ticketed for using a handheld phone while driving a commercial vehicle. The offense carries two points and a $479 fine-- more than double the fine the same offense carries for noncommercial drivers.
We reached out to Mountain Transit for comment. The company had not called us back when this story was published.
No word yet if any disciplinary action has been taken.
Police say the whole incident was caught on camera when a Colchester High student shot a 20- to 30-second cellphone video of her bus driver allegedly texting while driving. The student's mom forwarded her daughter's video to police.
Investigators are withholding that video, but say it clearly shows William Blanchard, 43, holding his cellphone, pressing multiple buttons, while driving the kids to school around 7:30 a.m.
Blanchard is employed by Mountain Transit.
"You could clearly see he wasn't looking at the road for a few seconds at a time. So, traveling a distance, not looking at the road, driving a large vehicle, carrying several children is a very dangerous thing to do," Colchester Police Cpl. Roger Fisher said.
Blanchard was ticketed for using a handheld phone while driving a commercial vehicle. The offense carries two points and a $479 fine-- more than double the fine the same offense carries for noncommercial drivers.
We reached out to Mountain Transit for comment. The company had not called us back when this story was published.
No word yet if any disciplinary action has been taken.
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