A DODEA school bus lies on the ground after heading off an embankment Friday, March 10, 2023, near Weilerbach, Germany. Sixteen students were on board, and one was taken to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center with minor injuries, authorities at the Weilerbach firehouse said at the time. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The driver involved in last year’s Defense Department school bus rollover near Ramstein Air Base was convicted by a German court of intentionally endangering road traffic and leaving the accident scene.

The Kaiserslautern district court last month imposed a fine of 10,000 euros, or about $11,000, and suspended the man’s driver’s license for a minimum of one year, lead public prosecutor Udo Gehring said Friday.

The court found that the 60-year-old driver, whose identity remains undisclosed because of German privacy rules, was unfit to be behind the wheel. It based the decision on the high level of alcohol in his system at the time of the rollover.

The bus, contracted by the Department of Defense Education Activity, was carrying 16 students from elementary, middle and high schools when it veered off the pavement at low speed on a rural district road between Weilerbach and Erzenhausen on March 10, 2023.

At the time, students said the intoxicated driver was acting erratically before the bus flipped over an embankment. He then left the vehicle, leaving the students to break a window to escape the wreckage on their own.

The children, ages 7 through 17, escaped with only minor injuries, according to a police statement.

Video shared on Facebook shortly after the crash showed a group, including first responders, surrounding the driver on a field a few hundred yards away from the bus.

In the Dec. 1 verdict, no mention was made of any medical or health issues contributing to the driver’s actions.

Court records revealed, however, that his blood alcohol level was 0.26% approximately two hours after the accident, Gehring said in a statement.

After the one-year suspension, the licensing administration will have to determine whether the driver is again suitable for operating motor vehicles, he said.

“To this end, (the administration) can conduct investigations, which may include obtaining a psychological assessment,” Gehring said.

Under German criminal law, fines are calculated and imposed in terms of daily rates, which aim to ensure proportional punishment for people with different income levels.

In this case, the driver was sentenced to 200 payments of 50 euros each, Gehring said. The driver had no prior convictions.

“The court was convinced the driver felt remorse for his actions,” Gehring wrote Friday.

Kim Gordon, whose daughter was on the bus during the crash, expressed dissatisfaction with the sentence in an email Friday.

“I don’t understand why (the driver) is not being held accountable for endangering the lives of our children,” Gordon said. “My daughter still has anxiety about riding the school bus because of his actions.

“I am frustrated and angry at the verdict. I feel that he has gotten away with just a slap on the wrist and we have gotten a slap in the face.”

Gordon added that the lack of communication from DODEA and the transportation office in the aftermath of the rollover remains a concern, should another accident occur. Gordon says she has asked numerous times about what changes were being made to improve communication with parents and did not receive a response.

The school system “continues to improve bus safety measures and ensure the well-being of every student to and from school,” DODEA Europe spokeswoman Jessica Tackaberry said Friday in an email.

“We have increased monitoring, enhanced safety training and protocols, and held a transportation conference to discuss ways to better transportation and support services.”

Engelbert Schary, co-owner of Schary Reisen, the transportation company that employed the driver, confirmed Friday that the driver had been fired.

“We have transported American schoolchildren safely since 1982 and are very conscious of the great responsibility this is,” Schary said. “This incident was a tragic and surprising exception for us.”

Schary said that although drivers are vetted during the hiring process, the company relies on individual responsibility and trust for its drivers, as daily checks are nearly impossible and many drivers park their buses at home if they have early-morning shifts.

“We expect all our drivers to adhere to a strict zero-tolerance policy (for alcohol),” Schary added.

Investigations found no evidence of negligence on the part of Schary Reisen, Gehring said. The company serves DODEA bus routes with 19 vehicles in the Kaiserslautern area.