DRUG USE BY BUS DRIVER SUSPECTED

NEW ORLEANS, May 12 (UPI) - Federal safety officials are probing whether
drug use played a role in the weekend crash of a charter bus that killed 22
in New Orleans.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports today that a drug test administered
on driver Frank Bedell soon after the crash on Sunday indicated he had used
marijuana in the past month.

There are also questions about whether he applied the brakes before the crash.

Federal safety officials have disclosed that the 46-year-old Bedell was
turned down when he applied for a job with Greyhound Bus Lines two years ago
because he tested positive for cocaine use.

A doctor at Charity Hospital stressed that evidence of drug use in Bedell's
system does not automatically show he was under the influence of drugs when
he was behind the wheel of the doomed bus.

Requesting anonymity, the doctor told the Times-Picayune: "Basically by
saying his tox (toxicology) screen was positive means he smoked something in
the last month. Marijuana can stay in your blood for about a month."

In addition, it has been disclosed that Bedell is a diabetes patient with
kidney failure who undergoes regular dialysis treatments, and was diagnosed
with congestive heart failure, which should result in automatic
disqualification for a commercial driver's license.

Federal investigators are unsure why the doctor who diagnosed congestive
heart failure certified Bedell fit for duty with Custom Bus.

Ken Suydam, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board,
says considering the health factors, he believes Bedell should not have been
allowed to drive a bus.

In other developments, attorney Daniel Becnel Jr., of Reserve, La., has
filed the first lawsuit in connection with the accident. He alleges experts
believe that the brakes either failed, or Bedell did not use them.

Suydam, the lead NTSB investigator, says mechanical failure has so far been
ruled out.

Becnel told the Times-Picayune: "If he had applied the brakes, and these are
air brakes, there would have been skid marks. There is absolutely not one
skid mark or gouge mark to show that the driver hit the brakes at any time
before the bus hit the guardrail."

The charter bus was transporting senior citizens from La Place, La., to a
Mississippi gambling casino on a Mother's Day outing when it ran off an
elevated expressway early Sunday and crashed into a concrete enbankment.