A Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 bus driver has been charged with DUI and child endangerment after his bus was involved in two separate crashes Wednesday, police said.
Crystal Lake police were called at 7:40 a.m. to the parking lot of Hannah-Beardsley Middle School, 515 East Crystal Lake Avenue, for a report of a crash involving two school buses.
Authorities said that children were on one of the school buses when the crash occurred but none were injured.
The Crystal Lake Police Department said that the driver of the school bus that had children on it struck another school bus parked in the loading/unloading zone in front of the school. The second bus involved was occupied only by the driver.
While investigating the crash, police officers discovered the school bus had also struck another vehicle, a black Jeep Renegade, on Terra Cotta Road north of Route 176 while the bus was going to the school. Police said both crashes were minor.
The bus driver, Wayne Desparte, 75, of 4320 Greenfield Drive in Lake in the Hills, was under the influence of prescription drugs while operating the school bus, authorities said. He was arrested and charged with aggravated driving under the influence, a class 4 felony, and child endangerment, a class A misdemeanor.
Desparte was later transported to the McHenry County Jail in Woodstock. He has since been released on bail.