A 63-year-old Silver Creek woman has been charged with DWI after the school bus she was driving was pulled over in Erie County on Tuesday.

Marianne Clayton, 63, of Silver Creek was charged with three felony counts of aggravated DWI with a child in the vehicle, a misdemeanor count of DWI-Drugs and seven counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Erie County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to Route 438 and Woodchuck Road on the Seneca Nation of Indians Territory following a request from Seneca Nation of Indians marshals. The marshals initiated a traffic stop after reportedly seeing a school bus swerve into oncoming traffic. While speaking with the driver, a marshal observed signs of impairment.

A deputy administered standard field sobriety tests, which Clayton allegedly failed. Following the tests, police report a Sheriff’s Drug Recognition Expert took Clayton to the North Collins Substation and performed a drug evaluation, and allegedly found Clayton impaired by drugs. Clayton was released to a sober third party.

At the time of the incident, nine Gowanda Central School students were on the bus and were heading to the Lakeshore BOCES. Dr. Bob Anderson, Gowanda superintendent, confirmed there was an incident involving a bus driver who had been taking the students — believed to be between eight to 12 and all from Gowanda — to an educational center program in Chautauqua County. He stressed that the driver was “not an employee of Gowanda Central School or involved a Gowanda school bus.”

“The Seneca (Nation of Indians) marshals saw a bus driving erratically on Route 438 and pulled it over,” said Anderson, later adding, “The driver was potentially detained at that point … and they took her into custody. There was law enforcement there including Erie County, and another driver came and picked up the students to transport them.”

Anderson said the district does contract out some of its busing for students who attend programs such as P-TECH in Dunkirk. An “all-call” regarding the incident was sent to Gowanda parents around 5 p.m. Anderson said he was “deeply concerned and terribly upset for the students who were put into some sort of jeopardy without their permission through no fault of their own. There was no tragedy, and I’m thankful all are safe.”

Margaret Shaw, the parent of a 17-year Gowanda student, said her daughter was on the bus Tuesday morning. According to her daughter, the school bus driver at one point struck a mailbox and was “driving all over the road.”

After being stopped by police, Shaw said the bus driver was questioned and eventually put into handcuffs.

“When I picked her up she was crying and shaking,” Shaw said, noting that those on the school bus were “pleading and begging for her to stop.”

Shaw said she received a call from the Gowanda Central School bus garage around 11 a.m. informing her that there had been an incident with her daughter’s bus that had been stopped by police. Shaw said some of the parents picked their children up while other students continued on with the new driver.

Anderson said Tuesday he is glad no student was injured.

“I’m super thankful all the students are OK and that this potential tragedy was averted,” he said.

The Gowanda School Resource Officer assisted with notifying guardians and arranging transportation for the students.