Accused drunk bus driver struggled to use brakes while carrying kids, GA cops say

A bus driver was accused of driving drunk while transporting a group of nearly 30 kids, Georgia officials said.

On Sept. 19, Lori Hagaman, 51, of Adairsville was showing signs of being drunk while operating the school bus with children inside, Bartow officers told Coosa Valley News.

She was “swerving, missing stops and nearly hitting other vehicles,” officers told WXIA.

When officers pulled her over, they noticed she was “confused” and unable to properly use her air brakes, officials told Coosa Valley News.

She failed several sobriety tests and “had very slurred speech,” officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Inside the bus was an open container that officers suspected had wine inside, officials told The Georgia Sun.

“It was the scariest — honestly one of the worst days of my life,” Karen Oliver, a mom of two of the children on the bus, told WXIA. “He FaceTimed me and was like I’m not going to be able to make it home. I was like Elijah quit playing with me and then he was like, ‘No, my bus driver got pulled over for a DUI.’”

McClatchy News reached out to the Bartow County School System for a statement on Sept. 23 and was awaiting a response. The school district told WSB-TV that Hagaman was removed from the route and is permanently prohibited from being employed by the district.

She was charged with 29 counts of reckless conduct, an open container violation distilled spirits ethyl/alcohol/ethanol/spirits of wine, and a felony count of driving a school bus under the influence of alcohol, according to jail records.

Bartow County is about a 50-mile drive northwest from Atlanta.

This story was originally published September 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Accused drunk bus driver struggled to use brakes while carrying kids, GA cops say."