Augusta,GA : Driver charged with DUI in Masters party bus crash that injures 16 on April, Thursday 5th 2018

A passenger on the charter bus that crashed on Interstate 20 on Thursday, injuring 16 people on the way to the Masters Tournament, said the driver was having trouble staying in his lane before the crash.

“About a half hour outside Atlanta, the driver runs off the road,” said former Augusta resident Kip Plowman, who was with the group of 18 headed to Augusta National Golf Club for the first round of the tournament.

The driver said everything was fine, but “we didn’t really believe him. It seemed like we were wobbling a good bit as we went,” Plowman said in a video interview at Doctors Hospital, where nine people were treated after the crash.

Sgt. Chris Wright of the Georgia State Patrol said authorities believe the driver, Steven F. Hoppenbrouwer, was under the influence of drugs. Hoppenbrouwer, 61, of Gwinnett County, has been charged with driving under the influence.

One passenger told troopers he had decided before the crash, “I’m not riding back with him. I’ll call an Uber,” Wright said.

Source :
Driver charged with DUI in Masters party bus crash that injures 16