'Super drunk' teacher-mom sentenced

PAW PAW, Mich. (WOOD) - A former Portage Public Schools teacher found guilty of being "super drunk" has been sentenced.

Leslie Buscher was ordered to pay a total of $990 in fines for two of the three counts she was convicted of in early October. One of those counts was dismissed.

Buscher was arrested in July 2011 when Van Buren County sheriff's deputies found her passed out at the wheel of her SUV on the side of the road north of the intersection of County Road 652 and Red Arrow Highway in Antwerp Township.

There were two young children -- ages 2 and 4 -- in the vehicle, police said. A party cup half full of vodka was found inside the vehicle.

Police said she had a blood-alcohol content (BAC) level of more than 0.40 at the time of her arrest -- five times over the legal limit of 0.08.

During a show cause hearing earlier this year, Buscher's attorney successfully argued the arrest was made on private property and the officer had no right to make the arrest. But authorities told 24 Hour News 8 that witnesses reported the SUV had only been on the side of the road for several minutes -- a short enough time to convince officers she had driven it there while intoxicated.

The prosecutor appealed the dismissal to the circuit court. The charges were reinstated.

Buscher was found guilty on Oct. 10 of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a high blood-alcohol content, operating while intoxicated with an occupant under 16 years old, and having an open intoxicant.

Buscher resigned from Portage Public Schools on Sept. 14.