Cops: NYC Bus Driver Gets Drunk on Day Off, Drives Empty Bus Across Long Island

A Medford man employed as a New York City Transit bus driver was arrested Sunday for driving the bus drunk on the Northern State Parkway in Nassau County on his day off, police said.

New York State Police said they received multiple calls of an erratic NYC Transit bus traveling eastbound on the Northern State around 2:22 p.m. A trooper stopped the bus just east of Exit 32–Post Avenue–in Westbury.

While interviewing the bus operator, 52-year-old Alexander Copeland, the trooper detected a strong smell of an alcoholic beverage, police said.

Copeland failed sobriety tests and had a blood alcohol content of 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit, police said.

Further investigation revealed that Copeland was on his day off and was not authorized to be driving the bus, police said.

Copeland is charged with aggravated DWI, second degree reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a vehicle without owner’s consent and traffic violations.