{"id":260125,"date":"2026-05-06T03:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T03:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260125\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T03:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T03:11:09","slug":"bodycam-video-shows-officers-questioning-um-shuttle-driver-behind-wild-ride-across-coral-gables-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260125\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodycam video shows officers questioning UM shuttle driver behind wild ride across Coral Gables &#8211; WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; Body camera video obtained by 7News shows a shuttle driver being questioned and ultimately arrested by police after his student passengers said he was behind the wheel of a wild ride across Coral Gables.<\/p>\n<p>The driver, identified as 45-year-old Timothy Kowalewski, had crashed a University of Miami bus full of students.<\/p>\n<p>Police allege Kowalewski drank alcohol before getting in the driver\u2019s seat on Feb. 16.<\/p>\n<p>But in body camera video obtained on Tuesday, the driver is seen admitting to the alleged crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI [expletive] woke up this morning and decided\u2026 alcohol,\u201d said Kowalewski.<\/p>\n<p>No one was seriously injured, but during the conversation with responding officers, the driver could not recall what had just happened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese kids have more answers than I do,\u201d said Kowalewski.<\/p>\n<p>Moments earlier, <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/miami-dade\/you-ran-over-a-tree-um-student-describes-concerning-signs-of-shuttle-driver-accused-of-dui\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">students aboard the shuttle<\/a> made 911 calls to dispatchers, reporting the bumpy ride they were on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a big, it\u2019s the University of Miami, ah, shuttle. It\u2019s the Coral Gables, the Rosenstiel shuttle, and the bus driver is under the influence of something, and he\u2019s crashed a few times. The bus is broken too, in a few parts. It\u2019s quite a disaster,\u201d said a student to a 911 dispatcher<\/p>\n<p>The wild drive took the passengers across U.S. 1 and LeJeune, with the bus backing into the intersection and crashing multiple times. The driver was transporting students between Virginia Key and UM\u2019s main campus.<\/p>\n<p>Students said that Kowalewski ran into trees, poles, and curbs, and almost hit a gas line while driving the bus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is um, definitely under the influence of something, and looks very spacey. He might be high, or it could be alcohol too,\u201d said a student to the dispatcher.<\/p>\n<p>Body camera footage captures Kowalewski cursing to himself as police sorted out the wild ride.<\/p>\n<p>But before officers arrived on scene, cellphone video from students captures them interrogating Kowalewski and <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/miami-dade\/please-put-the-bus-in-park-cellphone-video-shows-um-students-confronting-shuttle-driver-accused-of-dui\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">instructing him to stop the bus.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just smell like a lot of alcohol,\u201d said a student to Kowalewski.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease put the bus in park. Thank you,\u201d a student tells Kowalewski.<\/p>\n<p>Upon police arrival, the students and the driver got out of the parked bus. Students handed over their IDs as police began their investigation and spoke privately to the driver.<\/p>\n<p>Once the students were cleared, Kowalewski was taken in for questioning and ultimately jailed.<\/p>\n<p>Kowalewski refused a Breathalyzer and a sobriety exercise, according to police. He is charged with DUI and causing an accident with property damage.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p>\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORAL GABLES, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; Body camera video obtained by 7News shows a shuttle driver being questioned and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-260125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}