Charges Dropped In Case Of Woman Locked In Bus Luggage Section

VERNON, CT — An off-duty bus driver accused of locking a passenger in a luggage compartment over the summer on Interstate-84 had her case dismissed in Rockville Serior Court on Tuesday.

In other words, it was nolled, a clerk at the courthouse said Wednesday morning.

The case dates back to 4 p.m. in Aug. 4, when state police from the Troop C barracks came to the rescue of a woman who had called 911 while locked in the luggage compartment from a moving bus on I-84, according to a report. A woman described in a report as an off-duty driver was accused of pushing her in there and was subsequently arrested.

The bus was headed through north-central Connecticut and a 32-year-old woman called 911 and told a dispatcher at Troop C that she was locked in the compartment of a passenger bus headed to Boston, case records show.

The 911 "ping" showed that the bus went through Tolland and into Willington near Exit 70 and troopers gave chase, according to a report.

State police caught up to the bus near Exit 73, pulled it over, and informed the on-duty driver of the 911 call. The woman, from Long Beach, NY, was then located inside one of the compatrments. She refused medical treatment, but told troopers that she was retrieving items from a bag and was "purposely locked inside" by a "female driver," who was "still on the bus as a passenger," according to a report.

State police then arrested Wendy Alberty, who has a New Jersey address.

She had been charged with first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree breach of peace, but the charges were dropped, a clerk at the courthouse said.