ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP — Prosecutors say a former Rockaway school district employee had a blood alcohol level that was three times the legal limit when she crashed her car late last month, killing her special-needs son.

(Comstock, ThinkStock)
(Comstock, ThinkStock)
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Debra Boucher, 62, drove her 2001 Chevrolet off Upper Hibernia Road about 9:41 p.m. on June 26, according to police. Both were flown via  medivac helicopter to Morristown Medical Center where her son James Boucher, 40, died a few days later.

During a bail hearing Wednesday, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Sandler said the former transportation supervisor for the Rockaway Township School District had a blood-alcohol level of .264 percent, according to NJ Advance Media.

Sandler asked that Boucher's bail be kept at $200,000, with no 10-percent option, but Superior Court Judge Catherine Enright lowered it to $150,000, which is the highest possible bail for a death by auto charge in Morris County, the NJ Advance Media article states.

Boucher's court-appointed attorney, Joseph Scura, had previously requested that her bail be lowered to $50,000, citing her strong ties to the community and the fact that arrangements for her son's burial still haven't been made since she's been in jail, the article states.

In addition to the recent fatal crash, Boucher was arrested two years ago for DWI after she crashed her car into a utility pole in the township on April 26, 2014, NorthJersey.com reported.

Before her son’s death, Boucher had charged with third-degree assault by auto, endangering an incompetent person, operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, driving while intoxicated in a school zone, failure to maintain lanes, failure to wear safety equipment and careless driving and reckless driving, police said in June.

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.

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