WASHINGTON -- A Metro employee accused of talking on her cell phone while driving a bus will get back behind the wheel, but it's curtains for two others.
A rider took a picture of the driver of a route 63 bus apparently holding a cell phone to her ear while she drove. The picture was posted to the blog Unsuck DC Metro with an account that described the driver getting out of the bus while it was stopped outside the Petworth Metro Station the morning of July 28 and talking on her phone for several minutes, then getting back on the bus and pulling into traffic while still on the phone.
Metro determined the driver used her personal cell phone to make a work-related call. She was reporting a mechanical problem with the bus.
The transit agency's internal investigation also determined she did not operate the bus while on the phone.
She received some reinstruction on operating procedures and put back in service.
Drivers accused of kidnapping and driving on a suspended license weren't so lucky. Both were fired this week.
The alleged kidnapping incident took place on July 25. A driver is accused of refusing to allow a customer to get off a D14 bus in Prince George's County following a verbal dispute. Transit Police arrested the driver, Michael E. Robinson, 41, and charged him with kidnapping.
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Then on July 30, police discovered Carletta Douglas's license had been suspended after the bus she was driving was involved in a collision with a car at Good Hope Road and 25th Street in Southeast. It had been suspended in May, but Douglas said she was unaware of the suspension.
