CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Some parents are furious after the limo driver they hired to take their kids to the prom was arrested on the way back home.
The parents say they asked the limo company they paid to give them a full refund, and they’re not happy that request was denied.
The 10 teens who were in the limo say they were afraid and kept begging the driver, 71-year-old Nelson Baba, to pull over.
They say he finally did, and their parents picked them up after deputies arrested Baba for DUI-Drugs and Marijuana Possession.
“It was a crazy night,” one teen, who did not want to be identified, told Channel 2’s Tom Jones on Channel 2 Action News at 6:00 p.m.
She says she was excited for senior prom night, but it got off on the wrong foot when Baba showed up an hour late to pick the teens up. She says he got lost on the way to the Georgia Aquarium.
The teen says when they left the prom, they knew right away something was wrong.
“The moment we stepped into the limo, the putrid smell of weed whiffs off our noses,” she said.
They say Baba reeked of marijuana, and his tongue was green. He couldn’t find his way back to Cherokee County, even though the directions were in his GPS.
They say Baba drove erratically. One of their parents said the kids were scared for their lives.
“We get a text around 10:30, says this guys gonna kill us,” Kimberly O’Neill said.
The teens say they finally got Baba to pull over at a QuikTrip in Holly Springs.
“They searched the limo and found what they found,” O’Neill said.
Deputies say they found marijuana and say Baba told them he bought it while the teens were at the prom. He was arrested.
The parents asked for a full refund from the limo company.
The owner of Price A Limo said Baba works for another limo company, and he offered to only charge the teens half price since the first leg of the trip went as planned.
The parents say it did not go as planned, and they never knew Baba worked for someone else. They say they did business with Price A Limo, not Baba.
“I hope I never meet that limo driver in person again. Because I won’t be able to contain myself. Nobody should have the right to put our kids in danger,” parent Laura Legrand said.
Deputies say Baba failed a field sobriety test and couldn’t recite the alphabet.
Deputies also say he did not have valid certificates to operate a motor vehicle for hire or to drive a limo.
The parents are urging people who rent limos to do extensive research before hiring a driver. They don’t want happened to them to happen to anyone else.
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