WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. — Formal charges are set for the Hartland-Lakeside school bus driver who allegedly endangered the safety of children while driving.
72-year-old Walter Cunningham made his first appearance in court on January 29 and faces 28 felony counts of 2nd-degree recklessly endangering safety and one misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated (OWI) 1st offence with passenger under 16 years old.
According to the criminal complaint, Cunningham, was driving the school bus for the Hartland-Lakeside School District on January 27 when a student onboard called 911 near Marquette Road and Briarcliff Court in Hartland. The student said Cunningham wouldn’t let students off the bus and that he pushed a student.
Dispatch officers could hear “screaming and chaos” in the background of the call.
When officers arrived, they found kids running in the road to get away from the bus as it tried to drive away. Officers were able to board the bus, which was eventually stopped because a parent pulled his car in front to stop it so they could get their children off of it.
Officers observed Cunningham with slurred speech, glassy eyes, poor balance, and that he was “acting strange and not completely with it”. He eventually confirmed to officers that he did not stop anywhere to drop the kids off, and that he didn’t kick kids off the bus but “they flew off”.
Cunningham also admitted to taking 40mg of prescription Prozac (a CNS depressant) and 30mg of prescription Dextroamphetamine (for ADD) along with a third medication that was unidentified. He denied that he had been drinking. He failed a field sobriety test and his preliminary breath test showed no traces of alcohol consumption.
Surveillance video from the bus confirmed the children’s complaints about Cunningham’s driving, and that a parent initially confronted him without putting the bus in park first. “It was clear based on the audio of the bus footage that the [Cunningham] had a major lack of respect for the kids on the bus and it truly appeared that he did not care”, according to the criminal complaint. “It was seen in bus video footage that [Cunningham] appeared to have stopped the bus abruptly numerous times and had stopped in unsafe and dangerous places, including the middle of the road with kids on the bus… [Cunningham] did not care for the kids.”
Video also confirmed comments from a Dousman Transport Company official, who is the bus company used by Hartland-Lakeside School District, that Cunningham did miss some stops along the route and that when trying to backtrack, the children on the bus got upset and started yelling at him, to which he responded, “I am god on this bus” and yelled back at the kids to sit down repeatedly and be quiet, because they can’t get off the bus “until they sit down and shut up”.
The children onboard the bus ranged from ages 4 to 14 years old, which are grades K4 to 8th grade.
Bond has been set for $1,000,000.00 and Cunningham is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on March 3.