L.I. School Bus Driver Gets 1 Year In Prison For DWI Crash

SYOSSET, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A school bus driver who crashed into a Long Island home has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Frederick Flowers of Massapequa Park had pleaded guilty to drunk driving and other charges in connection with the Oct. 4, 2012 incident.

None of the five children, ages 5 to 9, on the mini bus were injured when the vehicle slammed into the garage of a home in Syosset. No one was in the house at the time of the crash.

The students were headed home from St. Edward the Confessor school, which is just across the street from the house, at the time of the accident.

Officers noticed the smell of alcohol and slurred speech when they spoke to Flowers after the crash, police said.

Flowers also was sentenced to five years' probation and had his driver's license revoked for 18 months, Newsday reported.

The incident was one of several which prompted lawmakers to push for putting Breathalyzers and ignition interlock devices in all school buses in New York.

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