QUEENS — A veteran MTA driver, who was busted for driving a New York City bus while intoxicated on the Northern State Parkway in Nassau County Sunday, was suspended without pay, the MTA said Tuesday.
Alexander Copeland, 52, of Medford, Long Island, who has worked as an MTA bus driver since 1998, was arrested after he took the bus parked outside of the Jamaica depot on his day off and went on a joyride, police and the MTA said.
The New York State Police said in a statement that they received "multiple calls of an erratic NYC transit bus" traveling eastbound on the Northern State Parkway around 2 p.m. A Farmingdale trooper stopped the bus near exit 32, about 16 miles from the depot, police said.
While talking to the driver, the trooper detected a strong odor of alcohol, police said. Copeland failed a sobriety test — his blood alcohol level was .20, more than twice the legal limit — and was arrested, officials said.
Copeland, who was charged with aggravated DWI, reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a vehicle without the owner’s consent and traffic violations, was issued a desk appearance ticket and is due back in court on Sept. 28, authorities said.
According to the MTA, the bus Copleland took was parked on the street outside of the Jamaica depot because there are more buses assigned to that location than the current depot can fit, the MTA said.
“This unauthorized use of a bus by an MTA employee is an isolated incident, but one that we find unacceptable and take very seriously,” Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the MTA, said in an email.
Ortiz also said that the driver will face “additional disciplinary action,” but did not elaborate.
Copeland's lawyer, Neville Mitchell, said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, that his client, a married father of two and grandfather of seven, "is not some crazy guy who took a bus and went on a joyride. That is not who he is."
"Sure he was stopped but he wasn't having a whole lot of fun driving and speeding," Mitchell said. "He was someone who was probably in need of some assistance himself."
It was unclear where Copeland was headed Sunday.
Mitchell said that while he was not "going to contest that [Copeland] was driving the bus ... it will be determined in a court of law if he had been drinking."
He also said that his client, who was at the press conference with his wife, has a medical condition "that may or may not have contributed to this." He did not specify what the condition is but said "it is not a psychological issue" and that Copeland "is fit to drive."
"The man has been a bus driver for many years," Mitchell said. "He's never been arrested for drunk driving. This is just an anomaly."
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, the union that represents MTA bus drivers, did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.
