A Long Island school bus driver caught drinking while bringing students home last week will not face charges — because police believe her story that she grabbed a hard seltzer without realizing it was alcoholic.
The 60-year-old driver, Amal Hanna, told News 12 Long Island that she is teetotal because she’s undergoing chemotherapy for cancer — which also leaves her unable to taste if drinks are alcoholic.
She said she grabbed a White Claw from the fridge she shares with a roommate in Hauppauge, thinking she was drinking a regular fruit-flavored seltzer while driving kids home from Smithtown High School West on Wednesday.
“It was just a mistake, it was a mistake,” the newly fired driver said through tears, fearing she could end up homeless from going through chemo without a job.
“For people like me that don’t drink — how are they going to know this is alcohol?” she asked, pointing out how the can only warned it was in small print.
“I have been crying and crying, I don’t even have any more tears,” she told News 12.
Police believe her story and Hanna will not be charged, a spokesperson for Suffolk County Police Department confirmed to Newsday.
However, she was fired from her job of 15 years — and is now not sure how she will be able to support herself amid chemo.
“I’m frightened I’m going to be on the street because of a mistake,” she said through sobs.
She said transporting the children every day was a bright spot in her life.
“I love the kids, I love my company,” she said.
“I go in the morning, so happy, see the kids, say ‘Good morning, how are you,’ give them a big smile,” Hanna said, adding that it “makes my life happy when I see the kids going to school happy.”
A parent who spoke to News 12 also described her as “so sweet,” saying she was always “kind” to the students.
“I can’t imagine she would ever do anything to harm them,” the parent said.
“I think it was a very honest mistake.”
Smithtown Central School District Superintendent Mark Secaur announced last week that the drinking driver was “promptly taken from the bus, and a different driver completed the route.”
Hanna has since been fired by WE Transport Inc, the Long Island-based school bus company that employed her, a spokesperson confirmed to The Post last week.
“This alleged conduct is completely unacceptable and the driver has been immediately removed from service,” the spokesperson said.
Smithtown school district officials also said she “will no longer transport any Smithtown student.”
“Our students’ safety is of the utmost importance to the Smithtown Central School District and we will remain steadfast in our efforts to create a safe environment for all our students,” Secaur told parents in an email, noting that the district has “zero tolerance for this behavior.”