An out-of-whack bus driver – who swore earlier this year he would never drive a bus again after a demolition derby through the streets of Queens – plowed a car into the rear of a police car this week, hit another vehicle and then assaulted a policeman, cops said yesterday.
Kenneth Criss, 42, of 130th Avenue in Queens, was driving along the Van Wyck Expressway on Wednesday when he crashed into a car driven by Officer Joseph Vereline.
Criss was driving a 1994 Mercury Cougar at “a high rate of speed,” cops said, then tried to flee and ended up crashing into the back of 1989 Ford van.
Vereline said Criss refused to get out of his car or be handcuffed, then began struggling with him before being subdued.
Criss was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, assault, leaving the scene of an accident, resisting arrest and reckless driving.
He was released on bail.
In April, Criss lost control of his Green Lines bus after suffering a seizure as he was driving down 150th Street in Jamaica.
The bus injured nine people, collided with 15 cars and downed electrical wires. Criss was suspended without pay and apologized for what he had done, saying he would never drive a bus again.
At the time, the Army veteran said he had no recollection of the events, adding that he had been Maced by police.
“All I remember is standing up after the bus was stopped,” he said then. “There was police officers around me, and I just got slugged.”
“I’m sorry for what happened,” he added. “It wasn’t meant to be done on purpose, but my main thing was, as long as I don’t kill nobody, thank God to that.”
Criss said he had been driving buses and vans without incident for 11 years before that demolition derby. Police initially assumed he was drunk, but later realized he suffered from seizures.