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Bus Driver In Harrowing Bronx Crash Disputes MTA's Claims That He Refused Drug Test - Gothamist

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The bus operator who crashed through guard rails, sending a bus dangling over the edge of an overpass in the Bronx, is disputing the MTA's claims that he refused to take a drug test.

Everton Beccan, 55, and the union held a press conference outside his home on Saturday, where Beccan asserted that he did not refuse to take a drug test, after the MTA claimed he refused to take one required under federal rules.

"I did not refuse to take a drug test," Beccan told reporters, still reeling from a painful jaw fracture as well as neck and back pain. "The hospital took the drug test."

Around 11 p.m. on Thursday night, Beccan was driving a Bx35 bus on University Avenue when he tried to turn left onto a ramp to the George Washington Bridge, but instead, sped through guard rails, sending the accordion bus over the edge of an overpass above the Cross Bronx Expressway.

Beccan and seven other passengers were injured in the harrowing crash, the FDNY said Sunday. One person was in critical condition after being rescued, the NY Times reported.

The MTA's Interim Transit President Sarah Feinberg said on Friday the driver had refused a federally mandated drug and alcohol test after passing a breathalyzer test at the scene. But a day later, the union revealed a document showing Beccan underwent a urine drug test at the hospital on Friday morning around 10:30 a.m. -- nearly 12 hours after the crash. The results of that test have not been made public.

Richard Davis, the vice president of the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, said Beccan feels like a "damned employee," and despite being in pain, felt compelled to hold a press conference to counter the MTA's claims.

"He feels very emotionally hurt by that," Davis said. "He said no one, no one asked him to take a drug test. He wouldn't refuse it. So he doesn't know where that's coming from."

The MTA, however, is still disputing Beccan's claims.

"This was a tragic incident for all involved and the MTA continues to provide the full facts to the public," MTA Chief Communications Officer Abbey Collins said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the bus operator refused his FTA and MTA-mandated drug and alcohol test multiple times. This is a straightforward, nonnegotiable, federally-mandated requirement of all bus operators and other safety sensitive personnel."

"We cannot make any exceptions to this requirement nor should we," Collins said.

The authority released an internal document showing that an MTA drug and alcohol technician had communicated with a doctor, who said Beccan had refused to take a drug test after 3 a.m., when the tech arrived.

"I told the doctor that he will need to tell me to my face that he was refusing the test, and the consequences of not taking the test," the tech wrote in a letter dated January 15th. The tech wrote the doctor passed on the message, but the employee still refused, the letter reads.

Davis noted that it appears the tech did not speak to the employee directly.

"The MTA admitted themselves that no one went to the room," Davis said. "How would the tech know that he even refused a drug test because the tech never asked him?"

An MTA official said the tech did everything possible to reach Beccan, and noted the doctor indicated Beccan had refused, not that he was incapable of responding. The MTA official also emphasized Beccan needed to take the federally mandated test that's required to be administered expeditiously, rather than the urine drug test taken hours later.

An MTA dispatcher had asked Beccan for a statement in the hospital room that evening, which he could not provide due to his jaw injuries, but no other MTA rep had spoken to him that night, according to Davis.

G.P.S. data indicated the bus was going 17 to 26 miles per hour at the turn, where it should have been going 3 to 4 miles per hour. Beccan said during the press conference he lost control of the bus as he was making the turn. He had eased off the gas pedal, but the bus "just took off," he said.

Davis says he and TWU have requested maintenance and mechanical records for the bus that Beccan was driving, but the authority has not yet provided those. The MTA said there's no indication there was a mechanical failure, but the investigation continues.

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