Passenger calls 911 after bus driver locked her up underneath bus in luggage compartment

Yesterday, Connecticut State Police reported that on August 4 at approximately 4 p.m., they received a 911 call from a woman who said that she was being held captive in the locked luggage compartment of a moving bus. The woman couldn’t provide her exact location but said that she had been purposefully locked inside the luggage compartment of a Peter Pan bus by the bus driver. Dispatchers were able to ping the distraught caller’s cell phone and guide troopers to the location of that bus.

Those troopers stopped the bus in transit on I-84 in Union, Connecticut, just south of the Massachusetts border and about 30 miles northeast of Hartford.  After pulling the bus over, authorities had the bus driver open the vehicle’s luggage compartments.

Inside, authorities found the woman, who told police she had been purposely locked inside by a female driver while attempting to retrieve items from her bag.  ~  MASS Live

That passenger was found unharmed, according to the Troopers.  Following a brief investigation, the bus driver was arrested.  That bus driver has been identified as 49-year-old Wendy Helena Alberty.

Alberty was booked on charges of reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint and breach of peace. By Monday night, she had been released on $2,000 bail.

Passenger Caroline Van Allen said that the woman who was locked inside the luggage compartment had to have been locked underneath the bus for at least 45 minutes.  During that passenger’s forced incarceration, other passengers sitting near the front of the bus told the troopers that they could hear a loud noise, like “someone banging frantically beneath their feet,” according to ABC News.

She didn’t have access to air and ventilation for 45 minutes. I think that would put someone over the edge,” Van Allen told ABC News. “I cannot stress enough how calm she was and she did not seem angry … she even didn’t look relieved. She just looked dead in the eyes.”

The Peter Pan Bus Lines reports that they have suspended Alberty while they look into the incident.

(Cover photo, Bus driver Wendy Helena Alberty,  Image credit: Connecticut State Police)

~  Written by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter