Busted: TriMet driver had suspended license

By Margy Lynch KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: Jan 7, 2010 at 5:40 PM PDT Last Updated: Jan 8, 2010 at 12:49 PM PDT
Busted: TriMet driver had suspended license »Play Video
A police officer approaches Amburgey's bus after he pulled her over.

PORTLAND, Ore. - A TriMet bus ran a red light in southeast Portland and it was all caught on camera, but that wasn't the worst of it.

It turned out the bus driver, Nancy Amburgey, was driving with a suspended license that had not been valid since August of 2008.

Two weeks later, Amburgey is back on her route for TriMet after going to court, paying her fines and getting her license reinstated.

Amburgey wasn't interested in talking with us but passengers we spoke with were concerned about what happened.

According to TriMet, Amburgey told them she wasn't aware of her suspended license but court records show she was pulled over in March of 2009 and arrested for driving while suspended.

TriMet told us they count on Oregon's DMV to notify them when one of their drivers has a suspended license but Amburgey was suspended in Washington.

We asked TriMet, given this incident, whether they would run all of their drivers through Washington state but the answer was no, they will still count on drivers to tell them.