CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) - Body camera video obtained by 7News shows a shuttle driver being questioned and ultimately arrested by police after his student passengers said he was behind the wheel of a wild ride across Coral Gables.
The driver, identified as 45-year-old Timothy Kowalewski, had crashed a University of Miami bus full of students.
Police allege Kowalewski drank alcohol before getting in the driver’s seat on Feb. 16.
But in body camera video obtained on Tuesday, the driver is seen admitting to the alleged crime.
“I [expletive] woke up this morning and decided… alcohol,” said Kowalewski.
No one was seriously injured, but during the conversation with responding officers, the driver could not recall what had just happened.
“These kids have more answers than I do,” said Kowalewski.
Moments earlier, students aboard the shuttle made 911 calls to dispatchers, reporting the bumpy ride they were on.
“It’s a big, it’s the University of Miami, ah, shuttle. It’s the Coral Gables, the Rosenstiel shuttle, and the bus driver is under the influence of something, and he’s crashed a few times. The bus is broken too, in a few parts. It’s quite a disaster,” said a student to a 911 dispatcher
The wild drive took the passengers across U.S. 1 and LeJeune, with the bus backing into the intersection and crashing multiple times. The driver was transporting students between Virginia Key and UM’s main campus.
Students said that Kowalewski ran into trees, poles, and curbs, and almost hit a gas line while driving the bus.
“He is um, definitely under the influence of something, and looks very spacey. He might be high, or it could be alcohol too,” said a student to the dispatcher.
Body camera footage captures Kowalewski cursing to himself as police sorted out the wild ride.
But before officers arrived on scene, cellphone video from students captures them interrogating Kowalewski and instructing him to stop the bus.
“You just smell like a lot of alcohol,” said a student to Kowalewski.
“Please put the bus in park. Thank you,” a student tells Kowalewski.
Upon police arrival, the students and the driver got out of the parked bus. Students handed over their IDs as police began their investigation and spoke privately to the driver.
Once the students were cleared, Kowalewski was taken in for questioning and ultimately jailed.
Kowalewski refused a Breathalyzer and a sobriety exercise, according to police. He is charged with DUI and causing an accident with property damage.
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