BUS DRIVER INVOLVED IN CHASE GETS JAIL TERM

A Metropolitan Transit Authority bus driver who led police on a 90-mile
chase earlier this month was sentenced Tuesday to 280 days in the Harris
County Jail.

Joshua Burgos, 34, pleaded no contest to charges of evading arrest in the
Dec. 11 chase and to criminal mischief in connection with a domestic
dispute Sunday when he purposely damaged his girlfriend's car.

Harris County Court at Law No. 14 Judge Jim Barkley handed down the stiff
sentence because Burgos had been arrested over the weekend while awaiting
sentencing in the bus chase.

His attorney, Lynn Alan Shepherd, said, "He has said he was sorry for what
happened. He apologizes to Metro."

"He's going to take full advantage of getting help while in jail for his
domestic problems and any drug problems he has," Shepherd said.

Burgos led pursuers on a two-hour, low-speed chase on several area freeways
before ending east of Baytown on Interstate 10. At one point, he told Metro
dispatchers that all he wanted was a "couple of rocks" -- slang for crack
cocaine.

Though his tires had been flattened by spikes deployed by police, Burgos
continued on for several miles as sparks flew from the wheel rims. Dozens
of patrol cars from several different agencies joined in the pursuit.

"It was a panic situation. He was off his route and was afraid of losing
his job," Shepherd said.

After being suspended from work with pay immediately after being taken into
custody, he was fired the following week, said Metro spokeswoman Julie
Gilbert.

Burgos was hired 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
two-month 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, Gilbert said.

Until Dec. 11, his record showed no accidents or complaints from
passengers, and, Gilbert said, he had passed four Metro drug tests.

Burgos submitted to a breath analysis after his arrest, and no alcohol was
found in his system.

After Burgos' sentencing Tuesday, Gilbert said, "In light of this incident,
we are re-evaluating the entire process (of drug tests). But we have no
details to release yet."

On Dec. 11, 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 Houston
Police Department 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 and
the chase began.