Deputies: Bus driver tries to strand passengers on I-85 - FOX Carolina 21

Deputies said a bus driver tried to strand passengers in the heat of the night after a bus headed for New York broke down on Interstate 85 in Anderson County on Tuesday night.

The bus was traveling from Atlanta to New York, according to a passenger who called FOX Carolina. Anderson County deputies said there were 43 passengers including a new born baby, young children and a few elderly passengers.

The passenger said they were stranded for more than three hours with no air conditioning. The passenger said the bus driver tried to flee the scene, so passengers called police.

Anderson County deputies said they were called to the stranded bus near mile marker 9 at the weigh station about 10:30 p.m.

According to a deputy's report, the bus driver called the owner of Golden Horse bus line who showed up in a Mercedes SUV to pick up the driver and his wife, leaving the passengers stranded.

SLIDESHOW: Bus breaks down, passengers depart for NY

The owner of the bus line told passengers they would have to wait for another bus to pick them up there at 11 a.m. Wednesday, deputies said.

Before the SUV could leave, passengers surrounded it until deputies arrived, the report said.

When deputies arrived, they told the owner that he couldn't leave the passengers stranded because he did not have any paperwork with their signatures giving him permission to leave.

Deputies said the owner ended up putting the passengers up for the night in a local hotel. A detention center van along with a taxi were used to transport the passengers to the hotel.

Passengers departed the Anderson hotel about 11:45 a.m. headed back to New York on a new bus. The broken down bus was still being fixed along I-85 Wednesday afternoon.

The owner of the bus company declined to talk.

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