WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. A female school bus driver has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for causing a crash that injured 17 middle-school students, two of them critically.

The commonwealth attorney who prosecuted Angelynna Young recommended she receive the 22-year sentence and thats what the circuit judge gave her.

Young held a special place in society, said Grant County Commonwealth Attorney Jim Crawford. She was a trained professional, entrusted daily to be of a clear mind so she could ensure the safe passage of children to and from school.

She failed miserably, Crawford told Circuit Judge Stephen Bates at Youngs sentencing hearing. 'The bus wreck (was) not a bus accident, as I've heard today,' Crawford said before asking Bates to sentence her to 22 years in prison for causing the crash.

Bates imposed the sentence, saying the case showed the fallacy of believing that drug use injures only the person taking the drugs. Under terms of a plea agreement, Young will not be eligible for parole until she has served 10 years and two months.

Crawford said Young spent most of the night before the crash getting tattoos at her boyfriend's house. She got, at most, two hours of sleep, he said, and tests done afterward showed she had at least four different drugs in her system.

Dramatic video

The result, he said, was her failure to react as trained when her bus ran off U.S. 25 Jan. 17 in Sherman, Ky. The noisy, jarring impact of the bus smacking into a utility pole was captured by a video camera mounted in the bus. The tape was played to an emotional courtroom at the hearing.

The video caused one student, Abby Brinker, to break down and flee the courtroom. It left others - students and parents alike - both angry and bitter at the memory.

'Look what you did to me, Cody Shively, 12, one of the most seriously hurt, told Young during the hearing. He wears a helmet to protect his shattered skull.

'Because you had to take your damn drugs and drive the school bus. ... I wish you had life in prison. I really do.'

Shively glared at Young, who sat looking at him and writing on a yellow legal pad as he spoke.

Courtroom bombshell

Young told the courtroom she felt for the children who were injured and their parents, and that she thinks about them and prays for them daily.

She said she was sorry for the wreck, but objected to the legal language in the charges against her, which said she showed 'extreme indifference' to human life. Then she dropped a bombshell.

"I'm here to say that I'm not guilty, and Im here to withdraw my guilty plea," she said.

The move stunned the prosecutor, judge, families and even Youngs attorneys. Public defender Rhonda Lause said she had no inkling of Young's intentions.

After a brief recess in which Young spoke with her attorneys, Lause reiterated her client's desire to withdraw her guilty plea.

But Crawford said she made the original plea -- guilty to two counts of assault, 15 counts of wanton endangerment and eight counts of drug possession --knowingly, willingly and intelligently.

He told Judge Bates he had questioned her intently about her guilty pleas and her knowledge of what she was doing.

Bates agreed. He quickly overruled her motion, and ordered the sentencing hearing to continue.

Several parents and school children then spoke, talking about the impact the crash had had on them.