New Jersey

‘I'm Afraid:' 911 Call Reveals Experience of Passenger Trapped in Luggage Compartment

Charges against a Peter Pan bus driver accused of locking a passenger in the luggage compartment have been dropped.

Connecticut State Police have released a 911 call made by a woman locked in the luggage compartment on the bottom of a Peter Pan bus in August.

The caller begins by warning the dispatcher her phone is going to die, and explaining her situation.

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Caller: “Yeah, hi, I have no battery left. I’m not OK. The bus driver locked me underneath the bus, um, a Peter Pan bus going en route to Boston.”

Dispatch: “Ok.”

Caller: “Can you hear me?”

Dispatch: “The bus driver’s under the bus?”

Caller: “No, she locked me under the bus with the luggage. I went to go get something –“

Dispatch: “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 gonna ever let – like - I need help. Nobody knows where I am.”

Dispatch: “Ok. Where is the bus?”

Caller: “It’s a Peter Pan bus. I don’t know, we just left Hartford. We just were stopped at Hartford, I got out and went to go get something. My phone’s gonna die I have no battery – she put me – and I went to go get something and she closed the door and we’re riding the Peter Pan bus route to Boston. We’re supposed to get there – I don’t know – at 6. I’m so scared. Please help.”

The dispatcher then reassures the caller, who begins to panic, and contacts State Police units to track down the bus, which was traveling on Interstate 84 East in Willington. The passenger was found and was not hurt in the incident.

The bus driver, 49-year-old Wendy Helena Alberty, of New Jersey, was arrested and charged in the incident. Her attorney Nate Baber said the charges were nolled.

Baber said based on the evidence presented there was never any indication that his client intentionally locked the passenger in the compartment.

“She’s happy that the state made the right decision in ending the prosecution against her, but from her perspective and ours she should have never been arrested in the first place," he said.

Alberty was placed on leave by Peter Pan at the time of the incident and remains on leave. Baber said she wants to go back to work for the company and they hope to see that happen now that the charges are dropped.

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