Man accused of posing as MTA worker, driving off with bus in Brooklyn
BATH BEACH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A man wearing an MTA shirt walked onto a Brooklyn bus depot and allegedly drove off with a running bus.
He made it around the block before crashing into a parked car, police said.
Jose Santiago, 32, is accused of walking past security at the Ulmer Park Bus Depot on Harway Avenue in Bath Beach.
He then apparently got behind the wheel of a vehicle, an MTA New Flyer bus, that was already running, at around 12:20 a.m. Tuesday.
Police said the driver was still on the bus. They said Santiago drove the bus off the property, despite the efforts of the MTA employee to stop him.
He's accused of driving around the corner of Harway Avenue and 25th Avenue and crashing into a parked vehicle.
Video shows the employee exit the bus first, followed by the suspect in a Yankees shirt.
Santiago was taken into custody and charged with burglary, illegal entry with intent, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a vehicle, trespass, and VTL violation no license to operate a bus.
An MTA spokesperson released a statement in response to the incident.
"The NYC Transit bus operator who was on board at the time of the incident is withheld from service, pending results of an internal review. The bus should not have been accessible to a non-employee. Thankfully there were no injuries," said MTA Spokesperson Lucas Bejarano.
It's not the first time a bus has been commandeered. Even subways have been taken for joy rides.
"It's terrible. I wish there would be less situations like this in New York, but New York is tough city," one woman said. "I love it so much. It's so city, and sometimes there's always something happening in the city."
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