A school bus driver who crashed her bus full of special-needs kids after she allegedly overdosed was not authorized to operate the vehicle, according to the bus company’s owner.

F&A Transportation owner Ahmed Mahgoub says that 57-year-old Lisa Byrd was actually a bus aide and was not given permission to be behind the wheel of the bus.

“She made an unauthorized use of the vehicle, and she was the unauthorized operator at that time,” Mahgoub says.

Newark police say that Byrd crashed the bus into a tree on Jones Street around 1 p.m. Wednesday while she was transporting children from the 14th Avenue Elementary School. Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said that drug paraphernalia was found inside the bus. The children were not hurt. Byrd had to be revived by the anti-overdose drug Narcan.

Mahgoub says that Byrd passed a background check in August 2018 and had the documents to prove it.

Police say that Byrd’s license was revoked form 1996 until 2006, but the reason why remained unclear.

Byrd was charged with child endangerment, driving while impaired and possession of drug paraphernalia.