According to police, on December 16 police pulled over a school bus after reports that it was swerving all over the road and that the driver appeared to be asleep. The bus was pulled over at 3:40 p.m. near the intersection of Nichols Avenue and Earl Street.
The driver, was identified as Paul Pixley, 55, of Derby.
Police said no children were on the bus, which came from Shelton Intermediate School, at the time that the bus was pulled over, but the investigation revealed that 30 kids had been on the bus that day, driven by Pixley. Apparently, they got off at earlier stops because Pixley kept falling asleep.
Pixley is charged with 30 counts of risk of injury to a minor, reckless endangerment in the second degree, reckless driving and breach of peace in the second degree. He was held on $75,000 bond and will be in court on Wednesday.
Pixley has one pending case in Milford, for failure to drive in the proper lane, from August 5. That case is awaiting disposition.
The Shelton Public School District released a statement on Tuesday night that said, in part:
The Board of Education is grateful to the Police Department for their focused investigation that is bringing a resolution to the incident that endangered our students’ safety. The School System will insist that Landmark Transportation adhere to established security measures to ensure our transportation provider’s procedures observe strict driver guidelines. Be assured that this driver will never drive for the Shelton Public School System ever again.
