Source: Houston Chronicle Author: S. K. Bardwell Contact: Pubdate: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 Page: One Front Page Website: http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/page1/97/12/13/waywardbus.20.html Bus Was Rolling With A Reason DURING CHASE, METRO DRIVER TOLD POLICE HE WANTED COCAINE A Metropolitan Transit Authority bus driver who led officers on a 90mile chase spent nearly an hour on his radio trying to convince his pursuers he needed to pick up some "rocks" before he was arrested. Even as Joshua Burgos abandoned his smoking, crippled bus after the mostly lowspeed, twohour chase, he told Metro dispatchers, "I want to go to Waco [Street] and I10 and pick up ... a couple of rocks. I know I'm going in, but why can't we go get that before I go in? That's all I want to do." Yet Burgos, 34, of the 6500 block of Miraglen showed no signs of alcohol or drug use after his arrest early Friday on Interstate 10 near Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles east of Houston, police said. Burgos was charged with evading arrest, a misdemeanor, but remained in City Jail late Friday on $1,500 bail. He was suspended from work with pay immediately after being taken into custody, Metro officials said. The greatgrandfather of Burgos' child said Friday "I was shocked" to see Burgos being arrested on television. The man, who asked not to be identified, said he, his granddaughter and her child with Burgos have not seen him for about a year. "I guess that year wasn't kind to him," the man said of Burgos. He said his granddaughter, Burgos and their child came here from Pennsylvania about two years ago and moved into his southeast Houston home with him. The man said his granddaughter and her child, now 4, still live with him. He knew Burgos and his wife had had problems, he said, but "they didn't seem any more serious than most people's problems." Burgos was hired first by Metro in September 1994, resigned for personal reasons in March 1995 and was rehired in September 1995. Officials said he was suspended for three days last year when he took a twomonth leave for health reasons but could not produce a doctor's note on his return. Burgos' record includes citations for attendance problems and tardiness, and he took a leave of absence from Sept. 12 to Oct. 8 this year, apparently for personal problems, said Metro spokeswoman Julie Gilbert. But until Thursday, his record showed no accidents or complaints from passengers, and, Gilbert said, he had passed four drug tests while with Metro. Burgos submitted to an Intoxilyzer after his arrest, and police said it recorded no alcohol in his system. A drug awareness expert, asked to evaluate Burgos, reported no indications of drug use. "I think he just snapped, kind of," said the great grandfather or Burgos' child, a sentiment echoed by some of the driver's coworkers, who described him as "a normal guy" and expressed doubt he was a drug user. A female coworker who visited Burgos in jail Friday evening said: "He's fine. I ministered to him. He's of the Christian faith. Everybody needs to hear God's word." The woman, who did not want to be identified, declined to say what Burgos said or to comment further about the visit. Before the visit, she called Burgos "a real nice, quiet guy." He has had some past personal problems, she said, declining to say what they were. Burgos on Thursday drove his regular 29 Hirsch Crosstown route, from the Southeast Transit Center at Scott and Old Spanish Trail to the Kashmere Transit Center at Hirsch and Kelley. The busy route passes Texas Southern University and the University of Houston. Just before 10 p.m., when Burgos should have been driving to the Metro station at Polk and Wayside to turn in his bus, two HPD gang officers spotted the vehicle in the 1900 block of Scott, which is not on a bus route. The bus nearly hit a pedestrian, and the officers tried to pull it over. When the bus took off instead, it was first thought to have been stolen. The ensuing chase led a phalanx of officers around the city and into northeast Harris County. Burgos dodged one set of tire spikes, then hit several others but kept going, eventually rolling the bus on its rims amid a shower of sparks. Many of the officers raced ahead of the 30foot bus to lay down the sheets of tire spikes or to block exit and entrance ramps in an attempt to keep the bus on Interstate 10 and other drivers out of its way. After the bus stopped east of Sjolander Road, Burgos remained inside, surrounded by police with guns drawn. Officers tried to get a Metro dispatcher to promise Burgos that if he came outside, he could get his rocks before going to jail. A few callers to the Chronicle Friday voiced concern that the number of pursuing officers violated HPD's chase policy, but department spokesman Jack Cato said the policy leaves management of a chase largely to the supervising officer's discretion. Police Chief C.O. "Brad" Bradford saw no violations in the incident and thought officers did a good job of ending it without injuries, Cato said. Metro officials said Friday the bus suffered about $3,000 damage, and it had been repaired by day's end. Chronicle reporters Dan Feldstein and Jerry Urban contributed to this story. Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle