By Scott Brinton
TLC agents recently began performing random checks on prom buses, looking for alcohol and drugs. Agents quickly descended on the Mepham bus to inspect. Inside, they found a cache of empty alcohol bottles and cans and a backpack containing hydro marijuana, which is known on the street as the most potent form of pot. "It was the most excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs that we have seen yet," said Bogsted.
Fifty-five Mepham students took the bus to the prom at Sand Castle Caterers in Franklin Square. When it arrived, 5th Precinct police officers, working with TLC agents, moved in and arrested the bus driver, Thomas Brady, 59, of Howard Beach, Queens. Police charged Brady with the prohibited sale of alcohol to minors. Bogsted said Brady had recently retired from driving cross-country bus routes.
Police temporarily impounded the prom bus before turning it over to the New York state Department of Transportation, which regulates buses, said Bogsted.
According to the commissioner, the following was found on the bus:
€Seventy-eight empty liquor bottles and beer cans.
€Thirty-six unopened beer bottles.
€Eight unopened liquor bottles.
€An estimated $1,000 worth of marijuana.
How the seniors got the alcohol is uncertain, Bogsted said. The bus did stop at a convenience store along the way, he said.
In a phone interview, Brady denied that he provided alcohol to the students. "They're saying that I supplied that alcohol; that's crazy," he said. "They're trying to blame this all on me. I don't drink, and I don't condone drinking. What they come on the bus with, I don't know. I'm driving a bus 30 years; I've never had a problem like this." He noted that the students had knapsacks where the alcohol and drugs were hidden, but he is not responsible for checking their bags.
Brady said he stopped at a convenience store on Newbridge Road in Bellmore because the bus's air-conditioning was broken and the temperature inside the vehicle had reached 90 degrees, so the seniors were complaining that they needed water. He insisted that he never left the bus.
"There was no supervision on the bus. That's not my fault," said Brady, who added that he was there to drive, not to chaperone. "None of the kids were ever charged. Nothing was ever done to them. That makes me feel pretty rotten that it's all coming down on me. These kids were allowed to be at the prom the whole time."
According to officials, none of the students were charged with drug possession for the marijuana because no one would say that the pot was his or hers, so there was no way to tell who had brought it on the bus.
Julie Grilli of Zimmerman/Edelson Public Relations, acting as the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District's spokeswoman, confirmed that all of the 55 students on the bus were allowed into the prom.
The Central District issued the following statement on Tuesday: "The vehicle involved in this incident was not arranged for or provided by the school district, but rather was a privately rented vehicle. All students, upon arrival at the prom, are checked. When this issue was brought to the school district official's attention, each student who had arrived on the bus was re-checked to make sure, for their safety, that they were fit to be in attendance at the prom. Alternate travel arrangements were made for those who arrived to the prom on this privately rented vehicle."
The Central District did not define "checked" and "re-checked." Brady said the students were not given Breathalyzer tests. Grilli confirmed that was true.
According to a Central High School District policy instituted last spring, any student suspected of drinking before the prom is supposed to be given a Breathalyzer test. If the student is found to have been drinking before or during the prom, he or she must be sent home and suspended for five days. Additionally, according to the policy, all district students must attend an informational seminar before the prom outlining the rules and sign contracts pledging not to drink or do drugs before or during the prom.
Brady now fears that he will lose his driver's license and be unable to earn a living. "My boss was supposed to help me with a lawyer," he said. "I'm afraid of losing my job. If I lose my license, what else do I do? This is what I do -- drive a bus."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
