911 audio of woman who was accidentally locked inside luggage compartment of bus released: 'I'm so scared, please help'
Authorities released the 911 call recording of a woman who was trapped in the underside luggage compartment of a bus after the driver accidentally locked her in.
The 911 call audio from the August incident was released by Connecticut State Police this week after all charges were dropped against 49-year-old Wendy Helena Alberty, a driver for Peter Pan Bus Lines, Metro reports. While Alberty was previously charged with unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment, and breach of peace, her lawyer claimed she did nothing unlawful or intentional.
The August 4 incident saw a New York woman call 911 reporting she had been locked inside the luggage compartment of the bus while retrieving items from her bag in Hartford, Connecticut. "The bus driver locked me underneath the bus, um, a Peter Pan bus going en route to Boston," the 32-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the dispatcher.
The dispatcher found it difficult to comprehend what she meant, but eventually understood her ordeal. "Yes. Yes. I'm under the bus with the luggage and I'm afraid. I don't know if she's gonna ever let – like - I need help. Nobody knows where I am," the caller said. "I'm so scared. Please help."
The bus was en route to Boston at the time, and was later tracked down and intercepted by police on Interstate 84 near the town of Willington, in Connecticut.
Responding officers said the woman was fortunately unharmed and refused medical attention at the scene. Following the ordeal, Alberty was taken into custody by state troopers.
However, all charges against Alberty were dropped two months after the incident. "From my perspective, she should have never been arrested," Alberty's attorney Nate Baber told People. "She's gone through a lot over the last couple of months … I'm not sure the damage can ever be undone, but she's happy that she at least doesn't have to deal with this aspect of it."
"She's relieved that the state did the right thing and dropped the charges," Baber explained. "But she's still upset and disappointed that she's ever been put in this situation in the first place."
Pending the criminal case, Alberty had been suspended from her job at Peter Pan. However, she hopes to be reinstated soon as the charges have now been dropped.