A charter bus with 35 YMCA youth campers on board was pulled over on I-35 northbound in Carleton County on Sunday, and the driver of the bus, identified as 49-year-old Cannon Falls resident Patrick Bullard was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated, according to the MN State Patrol. A criminal complaint filed in Carlton County Tuesday says Bullard is being charged with two counts of DWI, one for refusing to take a sobriety test, and the other for operating a motor vehicle under the influence. Bullard was also charged with being in possession of, and drinking and consumption of, an open bottle. Prosecutors say the incident occurred around 11:20 a.m. Sunday, when Minnesota State troopers responded to a complaint of a bus driving erratically, and at times, allegedly almost going into a ditch off I-35 northbound. Troopers say when they pulled the bus over and approached the bus, they found 35 kids between the ages of 11 and 14 inside, as well as two adult chaperones. They discovered the passengers were headed to Camp Warren in Eveleth, Minnesota, as part of a YMCA group. The bus was taken to a nearby gas station and the passengers waited there for a new bus and driver. No one was injured in the incident.
