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Endangering charge added to bus driver’s case

EAST LIVERPOOL — Donald E. Goodwin pleaded not guilty four times Tuesday morning in East Liverpool Municipal Court, where is being arraigned on OVI first offense, OVI commercial, child endangering and reckless operation charges. All are misdemeanors.

Goodwin, 62, of Northside Avenue, is the city school bus driver who was charged Saturday afternoon, after a coach noticed him acting strangely while preparing to transport the boys basketball team to Carrollton. East Liverpool police were contacted, and Goodwin failed to pass field sobriety tests. After testing with a .059 BAC on a breathlyzer, a blood draw provided a .075 BAC.

In addition to the OVI charge on his normal operator’s license, police also elected to charge him under the code section for commercial operators.

Among his 27 passengers that day were 18 juveniles, which is why city police served him with child endangering charge late Monday right before his initial court appearance.

He currently is on administrative leave with city schools pending adjudication of his criminal case, which carries a maximum penalty of $3,150 in fines and 18 months in the county jail.

During his arraignment before Judge Dominic Frank, Goodwin was advised that he needed to be fingerprinted by city police before 4 p.m. due to the child endangering charge.

He returns for a pretrial at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 11 and is currently out on a recognizance bond.

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