'PALSY' DRIVER SHOCK

'PALSY' DRIVER SHOCK

By LARRY CELONA, MATTHEW NESTEL and CYNTHIA R. FAGEN

January 4, 2009 --

The bus driver grilled by police for leaving severely disabled Ed Wynn Rivera trapped in his seat overnight has a shocking rap sheet of 28 arrests, including an assault on a Bronx cop, according to NYPD sources.

Walter Gibbs, 41, of Manhattan, a new employee of Brooklyn-based Outstanding Transport bus company, also has counts of forgery, grand larceny, theft of service and drug crimes on his record.

In his latest legal scuffle, Gibbs was busted on Aug. 5 for grand larceny and harassment stemming from a July 21 incident in Harlem.

His biggest trouble with the law occurred in 2007, after he allegedly assaulted a cop. Details of that case were unavailable.

But in the Rivera case, Gibbs will likely face no charges, police sources said.

The victim's sister, Leslie Rivera, was outraged after learning of the driver's alleged brushes with the law.

"If it's true, then this man had no business being behind the wheel or working with this population," she said.

"You would think if he was arrested 28 times, they'd see that on a background check."

The state agency that clears drivers to work with special-needs children, the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, said that it never received Gibbs' fingerprints or background check from the company, according to spokeswoman Nicole Weinstein.

The information, which the bus company must provide, has to be cleared by the agency before a driver can begin work, Weinstein said.

The bus-company owner, Charles Curcio, slammed the door when a Post reporter asked if he knew Gibbs, who is licensed to drive a school bus, had been arrested 28 times.

Gibbs, on the job only two days, told cops he was unaware Rivera was still on the bus and that it was not his duty to double-check that the vehicle was empty, sources said.

Rivera, 22, who has cerebral palsy and the mind of a child, was supposed to be dropped off at his family's East Harlem apartment after attending a special-needs class in TriBeCa on New Year's Eve.

Instead, he was left alone in the bus company's yard for 17 frigid hours after Gibbs and the bus matron, Linda Hockaday, left.

Rivera is being treated for hypothermia at Brookdale Hospital.

Police busted Hockaday, 51, of Brooklyn, who allegedly gave the all-clear to Gibbs although she knew Rivera, who can't talk, was still on board.

She allegedly told police she was in a rush to attend a music event at a church, and assumed Gibbs would drive Rivera home.

Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli

COURTESY OF THE NYPOST