A St. Louis County, Minnesota, bus driver was charged with two misdemeanor counts of driving while intoxicated earlier this week. He is accused of driving his bus containing at least 17 children hours after drinking heavily the night before.

The accused driver, Anthony Israelson, 44, was charged in St. Louis County District Court Monday on the two counts according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

On Sept. 4 just after midnight, an anonymous concerned citizen called the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office and told them that Mr. Israelson, who was off duty at the time, was drinking. 

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The caller was worried that Mr. Israelson would not be sober by the time he started his shift later that day, the sheriff’s office said in a release.

Deputies contacted Mr. Israelson at around 6 a.m. local time, and he told them that he was not working that day. However, deputies also informed the Independent School District 2142 that employs Mr. Israelson, and the school district let the sheriff’s office know that Mr. Israelson was working and out on the roads just after 7 a.m.

Deputies then got his patrol information and purportedly saw him cross yellow lines while following the bus according to the Star Tribune. 

Mr. Israelson was pulled over and arrested without incident, and none of the 17 children on board, students at South Ridge School in Alborn, Minnesota, were injured.

Law enforcement alleges that Mr. Israelson blew a .161 blood alcohol content (BAC) on a preliminary breath test.

No amount of alcohol in the blood is permitted while operating a school bus in Minnesota, and the legal blood alcohol limit for commercial drivers while operating their non-personal vehicles is .04, meaning that Mr. Israelson was purportedly more than four times above the legal limit.

“We take the safety of our students and staff very seriously. We are working in cooperation with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office as they proceed with their investigation. Even though there is a shortage of bus drivers, we are taking all measures to ensure that we have enough drivers to cover our routes in order to get our students to and from school safely,” ISD 2142 Superintendent Reggie Engebritson told Northern News Now.

The BAC limit for non-commercial drivers in Minnesota is .08.

Mr. Israelson was previously convicted of a gross misdemeanor for driving while intoxicated due to a BAC above that limit in 2005, according to court records.