Long Island schoolbus driver caught drinking on job won’t face charges

A longtime Long Island school bus driver caught drinking on the job will not face charges despite being fired, cops say – after believing her claims that she hastily grabbed a hard seltzer without realizing it was alcoholic. Appearing for an interview Friday, 60-year-old Amal Hanna (pictured) lamented the mistake that saw her axed from her job of 15 years – and removed her hat to reveal she is undergoing chemotherapy for an unspecified type of cancer.

‘It was just a mistake, it was a mistake,’ the newly nixed driver said, while claiming her condition has left her unable to taste certain food and drinks – and thus has difficulty determining whether the latter are alcoholic. Originally from Egypt, she wept as she recalled what she’s lost since being fired last week immediately after the White Claw was spotted in her cupholder – telling News 12 , ‘I love the kids, I love my [former employer],’ through a steady stream of tears.

The interview aired shortly before a Suffolk County Police spokesperson revealed that cops believed her story and would not be bringing charges – as school officials continue to brand her actions as ‘completely unacceptable.’ Hours before being let off the hook legally, Hanna expressed fear about potentially facing charges – tearfully telling her interviewer: ‘I’m frightened I’m going to be on the street because of a mistake.’

The former WE Transport Inc. employee described how the hard seltzer can ended up in the driver’s cup holder before being spotted and quickly removed – along with her as well. A different driver, she said, completed her route. ‘I go in the morning, so happy, see the kids, say “Good morning, how are you?” Give them a big smile,’ she recalled – before revealing how on the morning in question, she deviated slightly from her usual ritual.

Hanna said she grabbed a White Claw from the fridge she shares with a roommate under the impression it was a regular fruity seltzer – drinking it over the course of the day before driving kids home from Smithtown High School West that afternoon. That’s when the beverage – billed as a ‘hard seltzer’ in bold-faced font on the front of the can – was discovered. Insisting to News 12 it had been a ‘mistake,’ she told the outlet: ‘I’m frightened I’m going to be on the street because of a mistake.

The former WE Transport Inc. went on to produce a can she said looks exactly like the one that got her dismissed – before pointing out how the font that warns about the drink’s alcoholic content is in extremely small print toward the bottom of the can. She asked aloud: ‘For people like me that don’t drink — how are they going to know this is alcohol?’

She added she needs to stay hydrated due to her treatment, the Egyptian national said her teetotaling lifestyle left her in the dark as to what the term ‘hard’ meant in terms of beverages. Several parents familiar with the driver believed her story, with one telling News 12: ‘I think it was a very honest mistake.’ Not providing a name, the parent described Hanna as ‘sweet,’ adding she had always been ‘kind’ to the students. ‘I can’t imagine she would ever do anything to harm them,’ she said.

Police in notoriously affluent Suffolk County apparently shared the same belief, revealing in a statement to Newsday shortly after the News 12 interview aired that she would not be charged. Superintendent of Schools for Smithtown Central School District Mark Secaur, however, was not so understanding, telling the New York Post last week: ‘This alleged conduct is completely unacceptable, and the driver has been immediately removed.’

In an earlier statement – this one sent to parents within the community – the district boss also said the driver had immediately been removed. ‘It was confirmed that an alcoholic beverage was on board, and the driver was promptly taken from the bus, and a different driver completed the route,’ he wrote Wednesday. A police investigation ensued, eventually exonerating the woman. Still, she insisted to News 12 that she has lost the one bright spot in her life following the alleged flub. I have been crying and crying, I don’t even have any more tears. It was just a mistake, it was a mistake,’ she said.

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