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10th October 2023
12:03pm BST
A school bus driver fired for drinking on the job has claimed she didn't know White Claw had alcohol in it.
Amal Hanna, from Long Island, was fired from a school in Smithtown after being caught drinking one of the seltzers that have 4.5% alcohol per can.
News 12 Long Island reported that the 60-year-old will not face any charges as police believe she didn't know the drink contained alcohol.
Hanna is currently undergoing chemotherapy, which makes it challenging to taste if drinks contain alcohol.
According to Cancer Research UK, doctors think some chemotherapy drugs cause taste changes because they stay in the spit (saliva) for a few days after treatment. It also suggested they may lead to people going off certain foods as "they taste different from what they usually do."
Hanna was distraught after losing her job which she had held for 15 years.
In an interview with News 12, she says: “I have been crying and crying, I don't even have any more tears. It was just a mistake, it was a mistake."
Before heading to work last week, Hanna grabbed the fruit-flavoured beverage that her housemate left in the fridge, and didn't think any more of it.
Once the White Claw was spotted in her cup holder, Hanna was immediately removed from the school bus.
“For people like me that don’t drink — how are they going to know this is alcohol?" she asked.
Hanna has also been fired from WE Transport Inc, the Long Island-based school bus company that employed her.
Without a job, Hanna now fears she will be unable to pay her medical bills while receiving chemo. “I’m frightened I’m going to be on the street because of a mistake,” she said.
She also misses her job, telling the network it made "my life happy when I see the kids".
Several parents told the outlet that Hanna is incredibly "sweet" and professional.
According to the New York Post, Smithtown school district officials said Hanna "will no longer transport any Smithtown student".
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