March 03, 2026
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Kelly Weber, 46, was driving a bus with 54 Boyertown Elementary School students while intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration four times Pennsylvania's legal limit for standard drivers, officials said.
A Boyertown Elementary School bus driver was charged with a DUI and endangering the welfare of children after erratically driving a bus of 54 students last month, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Police said the driver, Kelly Weber, 46, of Boyertown, was found with three bottles of vodka inside the bus and had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.331, which is four times Pennsylvania's legal limit for standard drivers and over 16 times the legal limit for school bus operators. No children were physically harmed.
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“More than 50 young children were in a dangerous situation created by this defendant, who chose to consume a significant amount of alcohol and then get behind the wheel of a school bus and drive miles while intoxicated,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement. “We are all thankful that this defendant didn’t crash the bus and cause further harm to these children.”
Douglass Township Police Department was made aware of a school bus driving recklessly near Jackson Road and Third Avenue in Gilbertsville at around 4:11 p.m. on Feb. 6. Officers found the bus pulled over in a snowbank around Second Avenue and Gilbert Road after being seen nearly hitting multiple vehicles and a telephone pole, according to an affidavit.
Police said it was apparent that Weber was under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances because she displayed “pinpoint pupils, glassy eyes, confusion and erratic behavior.” She had two empty 50 mL bottles of Tito’s vodka in her jacket pocket, a 750 mL bottle of Tito’s vodka in her purse and receipt from 9:22 a.m. of that same day that matched those items found on the scene.
Camera footage from the school bus showed Weber placing an item wrapped in tissues to her mouth and tilting her head back and multiple instances where she crossed into oncoming traffic, according to charging documents.
When Weber was placed in custody, 26 students were on the bus. School attendance and bus trip records showed that Weber was transporting 54 total children that afternoon, including five who were under the age of 6, the affidavit said.
Text exchanges between the children and their parents indicated the students' fear and claimed that the driver “kept closing her eyes and driving very slowly.” One student departed the bus at an earlier stop to get picked up by his parents out of fear for the driver’s condition.
After the incident, Weber immediately checked herself into a rehab facility, officials said. She faces charges of driving under the influence, 54 counts of endangering the welfare of children and 54 counts of reckless endangerment.
