HOPKINTON, Mass. – It’s National School Bus Safety Week and some are left to wonder how a driver transporting students could have received his third DUI on duty.

ABC reports a “Massachusetts school bus driver was charged with driving under the influence after he was allegedly intoxicated while operating a bus full of cross country runners.”

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Police say Robert E. Murphy was driving the Hopkinton High School cross country team back from a meet Saturday night when one of the coaches on board called 911 with concerns that he was intoxicated.

WHDH reports students and staff reported the bus was “swerving and speeding.”

“Witnesses both on and around the school bus noted that the defendant missed a restaurant he was trying to bring the school children to, he ran at least 3 red lights on the way to a Wendy’s,” a prosecutor said, according to the news station.

An officer met the bus as it was turning into the high school parking lot and a field sobriety test was administered.

“This could be a good thing. I think I really need this,” Murphy allegedly said to the arresting officer.

The 25 students on board were unharmed.

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Murphy was arrested on charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and operating a motor vehicle to endanger.

Cops say it was Murphy’s third DUI offense and was being held without bail.

This is all the more shocking given it occurred on the eve of National School Bus Safety Week.

“Officers will be on the lookout for drivers who disobey the law in the next few weeks in conjunction with National School Bus Safety Week in October,” according to a statement from the Kilgore, Text police department, KLTV reports.

“Officers will be following busses (sic) to catch drivers who do not stop or yield. It’s a good rule of thumb that is there is not green (grass median) between you and the bus you must stop.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety said that during National School Bus Safety Week, troopers across the state will be riding on or following school buses to catch motorists who ignore the law.

That’s all well and good, but how did a driver with a single DUI arrest get hired to transport students anywhere?