CINCINNATI, Ohio – A cup of coffee may have been the cause of an accident involving a Greyhound bus that left at least 35 people hurt near Cincinnati earlier this month.
The bus driver choked on hot coffee while driving on I-75 and passed out, causing the bus to run off the highway and overturn north of Cincinnati, Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Ed Mejia says.
Charges are pending against Dwayne Garrett, the patrol says.
Garret apparently began coughing while drinking coffee and possibly choked on it before passing out just prior to the Sept. 14 accident, Mejia said.
He says the final report on the accident should be released this week.
Mejia says he doesn’t know driver Dwayne Garrett’s medical condition and is awaiting blood and toxicology results.
The bus was carrying 51 passengers from Cincinnati to Detroit when it ran off I-75 just north of Cincinnati. There were no life-threatening injuries.
A recording at a phone number for Garrett says the number may be disconnected.
A Greyhound spokeswoman says she can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.