Charges dropped against driver accused of locking woman under bus

ROCKVILLE, Conn. — Charges have been dropped against a bus driver who was accused of locking a woman in a luggage compartment under a bus from Connecticut to Boston.

For the first time, the panicked 911 call of that woman who was locked underneath a Peter Pan Bus has been released.

DISPATCHER: "The bus driver is under the bus?"
CALLER: "No, she locked me under the bus with the luggage."
DISPATCHER: "She locked you under the bus?"
CALLER: "Yes, yes. I'm under the bus with the luggage and I'm afraid, I don't know if she's ever gonna...I need help, nobody knows where I am."

The audio was released Tuesday -- the same day that criminal charges were dropped against the driver.

Back in August, Connecticut State Police found the woman in the lower compartment as the bus was headed to South Station.

The driver, Wendy Albert, was charged with reckless endangerment and unlawful restraint, but those charges have been dropped.

An attorney for Albert said Tuesday, the court believed it was clear the driver did not intend to lock the woman in the compartment under the bus.

"They took the word of a passenger who had gone through a traumatic experience," attorney Nate Baker said Tuesday.

Albert is a 50-year-old single mother with 27 years’ experience driving a bus, he noted.

"To claim she was capable of doing this is honestly dumbfounding," Baker said Tuesday. "In order for her to have done this, she would have to be an evil person."

He added a lawsuit against the trooper who charged her is possible.

Cox Media Group