MINOT — A former school bus driver accused of endangering 33 children during a crash last October was driving the bus knowing that she had a medical condition that caused her to randomly fall asleep, investigators said Thursday.

Angela Beasley Androscoggin County Jail

Angela Beasley, 45, of Auburn was arrested at her home Wednesday afternoon on 33 counts of endangering the welfare of children and on charges of reckless conduct and driving to endanger.

Police said onboard cameras showed that Beasley fell asleep twice while driving elementary schoolchildren to the Minot Consolidated School on Oct. 22, 2024. The second time she fell asleep, investigators said, the bus drifted off Shaw Hill Road and slammed into a culvert.

Inside the bus, the schoolchildren were tossed about, with some of them crashing into the ceiling and sustaining a variety of injuries. Roughly half of the students on the bus were hurt in the wreck.

“They all sustained various levels of injuries,” said Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Detective Nate P. McNally. “Bruising, complaints of pain mostly. One had a concussion, and never mind the psychological impact of the the crash. A lot of them were pretty upset about what they went through.”

One child was taken to a hospital with a complaint of head pain suffered in the crash, McNally said. Other children were evaluated and treated at the scene.

McNally said some of the schoolkids also suffered anxiety in the aftermath of the crash, which left the bus frame twisted and one window blown out by the impact.

Beasley was charged, McNally said, because she chose to drive the bus knowing that she suffered preexisting medical conditions that made driving dangerous.

“Essentially, she made a reckless, conscious decision to drive that day,” the detective said.

McNally said Beasley has expressed remorse about her role in the crash.

At the time, Beasley was driving for Regional School Unit 16, which serves Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland. She had also driven for another school district, but has since been let go from both school systems.

At the time of the crash, there were 33 students on the bus, McNally said, not 43 as originally reported by a system that tracks students as they board a bus.

Following her arrest, Beasley was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn but was released on bail later Wednesday. She is awaiting a court date to answer the charges against her.