SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — A senior center driver arrested for driving under the influence on Wednesday is also facing DUI charges in another case.
Washington State Patrol arrested Gilbert Maier, 45, of Lake Stevens for DUI on Wednesday afternoon.
Eleven passengers were on the bus from the Snohomish Senior Center, the State Patrol reported.
They were on the way to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Passengers said Maier ran two stop signs and hit curbs before he got to Highway 2.
When the driver got to Highway 2, troopers said he struck two jersey barriers.
Seniors on the bus told troopers the driver was eating and talking on the phone while he was driving erratically. They yelled at him to stop.
“How were you feeling?” KIRO 7 asked Patricia Ellis, who was on board.
“Very tense,” she said. “Very uneasy.”
Ellis said a woman on the bus spotted a trooper and yelled at Maier to pull over, which he did.
Investigators believe Maier was impaired by medication and received a warrant for a blood draw. Troopers said they found a depressant and hydrocodone in his system.
Maier is also facing 11 counts of reckless endangerment for each of the passengers on the bus.
KIRO 7 discovered Maier was arrested for DUI in April, 2014.
Passengers in another car involved in that incident said he “had run them off the road" in a flatbed truck.
“We are reviewing the situation, collecting the information and hope to have a quick resolution,” Snohomish Senior Center Board President Carroll Brown said.
Late Wednesday night, Brown said he had no knowledge of Maier’s prior charge and referred KIRO 7 to the center’s executive director, Bob Dvorak, for information on the center’s background check process.
Dvorak did not return a call Wednesday night.
“They really need to be more secure with the drivers and the seniors,” Ellis said.
Maier was booked in to the Snohomish County Jail on Wednesday. He’ll appear before a judge on Thursday.
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