His Bus Rammed Another in Studio City : RTD Driver Is Fired After Drug Test

The driver of a Rapid Transit District bus that crashed into the rear of another bus last week in Studio City was fired Thursday, partly because a drug test showed traces of marijuana in his urine, RTD officials said.

The driver of the moving bus, Clarence G. Brown Jr., 31, of Panorama City, said after a private RTD disciplinary hearing Thursday morning that he will appeal the district’s decision because he feels he is “being used as an example to the rest of the drivers.” Brown said some friends were smoking marijuana at his apartment the night before the accident, which injured 26 persons, none seriously.

“I was sitting here in my own living room, me, my wife, my friends,” Brown said. “They started smoking. . . . I will say they passed it to me, but I said, ‘No, I have to be in at 4:29 in the morning.’ But all that smoke was blowing in my face.

“I am taking the rap for something that my friends did in the privacy of my house on my own personal time,” he said.

Brown was tested by the RTD for drugs three hours after the accident, which occurred on Ventura Boulevard at Carpenter Avenue last Friday. Under RTD policy, all drivers in accidents involving personal injury or property damage are tested for alcohol and drug use.

Explanation of Test

An RTD spokesman would not release the level of marijuana detected in Brown’s urine, citing the confidentiality of employee records. But, he said, the district would not take action against an employee whose drug test showed levels indicating merely inhalation of others’ marijuana smoke.

“Before we consider the test positive, you would have had to use marijuana, not just been around someone who is using it,” said Marc Littman, the spokesman.

RTD policy calls for a suspension of 15 days and referral to a drug-counseling program the first time employees are found to have marijuana in their systems. Termination is automatic if use is shown of hard drugs such as cocaine.

The RTD has about 9,000 employees, about half of them bus drivers. Including Brown, 33 employees, most of them bus drivers, have been fired since Dec. 1 because of drug use, the RTD said.

Brown’s RTD driving record and the results of the accident investigation were also considered in his termination, Littman said.

“All three factors contributed to the termination, not just the positive drug test,” Littman said.

Brown, a full-time driver assigned to the West Valley, had worked for RTD four years. Although RTD officials would not release information on his driving record, Brown himself said he had been involved in two minor bus accidents with no injuries before the Ventura Boulevard accident.

Brown said he believes publicity over an accident in downtown Los Angeles on May 12 hurt his case. In that accident, 23 people were injured, and traces of cocaine were found afterward in the urine of driver Vivian Harris. Harris was fired and charged with driving under the influence of cocaine.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, here’s another RTD accident.’ All the media folks said, ‘Let’s stick around to see if this guy is on drugs,’ ” Brown said.

Sobriety tests at the scene, administered by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, showed no sign that Brown was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Brown was not cited for any traffic violations in the accident, and the city attorney did not file any charges against him, police said.

“As far as we were concerned, this appeared to be merely another traffic accident,” said Deputy City Atty. Donald J. Kass.

He Favors Tests

Brown said he favors RTD drug-testing, even though he feels it caused him to lose his job.

“The drug policy encourages passengers to believe that RTD drivers are drug-free,” he said.

But, he said, “It’s hard on my family. I have four kids in school, and they are having a hard time. Kids are teasing them, saying that I’m a pothead.

“Of course I’m not a pothead,” Brown said. “I would not endanger the public. I allowed my friends to smoke. Now my family’s being hurt.”