A school bus driver who crashed into three parked cars Monday, careened up a curb and nearly struck a building was asleep at the wheel, according to police. He also had a litany of traffic violations on his record, including one as recent as last week.
"Investigators believe he fell asleep … based on information that investigators learned from witnesses," said St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders.
Eighteen students heading to West Side Summit Charter School and an adult bus monitor were on board when driver Mohamed M. Wasuge, 31, lost control of his bus, causing two students and the monitor to be briefly hospitalized for aches and pains.
Wasuge was mailed a citation Wednesday for careless driving, Linders said.
West Side Summit executive director Karen Klinzing said Monday that she had been told the bus hit a patch of ice.
Wasuge's employer, Bille Bus Transportation, has not returned messages seeking comment. But Klinzing said Wednesday night that she's been notified that Wasuge was immediately fired.
Court records show that Wasuge, of St. Paul, has been convicted of traffic violations at least 11 times since 2003, presumably involving personal vehicles and not buses.
On Feb. 2, just a week before Monday's crash that sheared a wheel off the bus, Wasuge was cited in Ramsey County District Court with unsafe lane usage.