A Long Island school bus driver who was caught drinking while taking students home last week will not face charges — because police believe his story that he drank hard seltzer without realizing it was alcohol.
The 60-year-old driver, Amal Hanna, told News 12 Long Island that she wasn’t feeling well because she was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer – which also left her unable to taste if the drink was alcoholic.
He said he grabbed a White Claw from the refrigerator he shared with a roommate in Hauppauge, thinking he was drinking a regular fruit-flavored seltzer while driving the kids home from Smithtown High School West on Wednesday.
“It was just a mistake, it was a mistake,” said the recently fired driver through tears, fearing he could end up homeless from chemo without a job.
“For people like me who don’t drink — how will they know this is alcohol?” he asked, pointing out how the can only warned it in small print.
News 12 Long Island Amal Hanna, 60, thought she was just drinking plain fruit-flavored seltzer when she was caught drinking a White Claw Wednesday while she was transporting students from Smithtown High School West.News 12 Long Island
“I’ve cried and cried, I don’t have any more tears,” she told News 12.
Police believe her story and Hanna will not be charged, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Police Department confirmed to Newsday.
However, he has been fired from his job of 15 years — and is now unsure how he will be able to support himself in the midst of chemotherapy.
Hanna said she is now unsure how she will be able to support herself amid chemotherapy for cancer.News 12 Long Island
“I’m afraid I’ll be on the street because of a mistake,” she said through tears.
He said transporting the children every day was the bright spot in his life.
“I like children, I like my company,” he said.
“I go in the morning, very happy, see the kids, say ‘Good morning, how are you,’ give them a big smile,” Hanna said, adding that it “makes my life happy when I see the kids go to school happy.”
A parent who spoke to News 12 also described him as “very sweet,” saying he was always “good” to students.
“I can’t imagine he would do anything to harm them,” the parent said.
“I think it was a very honest mistake.”
Smithtown Central School District Superintendent Mark Secaur announced last week that the drunk driver was “immediately removed from the bus, and another driver completed the route.”
Hanna has since been fired by WE Transport Inc, the Long Island-based school bus company that employs her, a spokesperson confirmed to The Post last week.
Hanna noted that alcohol is only found in White Claw cans in the small print. News 12 Long Island
“This alleged conduct is completely unacceptable and the driver has been immediately removed from service,” the spokesperson said.
Smithtown school district officials also said he “will no longer transport any Smithtown students.”
“The safety of our students is of the utmost importance to the Smithtown Central School District and we will remain steadfast in our efforts to create a safe environment for all of our students,” Secaur told parents in an email, noting that the district has “zero tolerance . for this behavior.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
