State police arrest driver after woman locked in bus luggage compartment

WILLINGTON, Conn. (WTIC) -- State police arrested a female driver after they said a passenger was locked purposely in the luggage compartment.

Police said Sunday they received a call from a woman who said she was locked in the luggage compartment of a Peter Pan bus heading to Boston on I-84. Police were able to get a location on her phone and verified that she was traveling on the highway, headed east.

Troopers were able to locate the bus and pull it over at Exit 70. The trooper talked to the male driver of the bus. When he opened the luggage compartment, the woman who called police climbed out.

She declined medical attention and told police that she had been purposely locked inside by a female bus driver, while the woman was attempting to retrieve something from her bag.

A passenger on the bus said the troopers opened the luggage compartment and the first thing she saw was a large backpack with half the items out – pushed out. Then a young woman – in her mid-20s came out of the bus. She was escorted to one of the cruisers and remained there.

The troopers spoke to the driver outside the bus and after about 75 minutes, she left with police – not in handcuffs – and another Peter Pan driver on the bus resumed the journey. They arrived in Boston a couple of hours late. No one from Peter Pan told anyone on the bus what was happening.

The female driver, Wendy Alberty, 50, was located on the bus and charged with breach of peace, reckless endangerment, and unlawful restraint. She is being held on $2,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on August 21.