A Windham school bus driver this week gave his version of an incident at the bus garage that led to the end of his career as a bus driver and firefighter.

The incident in December led to criticism of the way the Windham School Department handled the situation, in which the driver, John Worry, was allowed to drive one of his bus runs while he was distraught and believed to be possibly suicidal.

“I want people to hear my side, because they slammed me pretty hard,” said Worrey.

Worry, 52, said he was forced into retirement last month after 24 years as a driver for Windham School Department. He said he is banned from all school grounds and athletic fields. The ban includes his niece’s graduation next month at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

Worrey said he was also forced to leave the fire and rescue department where he has served as an on-call firefighter for the past 25 years. He said he was placed on unpaid suspension immediately after the incident at the bus garage. He remained on suspension until this week when he received a letter saying he was terminated, according to Worrey.

Fire Chief Charlie Hammond declined to comment on Worrey’s status with the fire department.

Windham Superintendent Sandy Prince didn’t return phone calls this week seeking comment for this story.

Worrey’s terminations stemmed from an incident at the Windham School Department bus garage on the morning of Dec. 10. Worrey gave his version of the events that day this week:

Worrey said he was distraught that morning. He had just gone through a messy divorce, in which he said he lost everything, except his truck and his boat, which he said doesn’t have a motor.

He said he made his first bus run to the high school that morning, and decided he was too upset to make his next run of the morning to Manchester Elementary School.

Worrey said he went into the school bus garage off Windham Center Road with the intention of asking his supervisor, Transportation Director Margo Fournier, for a personal day. “I didn’t feel the greatest, and I asked for the rest of the day off,” said Worrey.

Before answering him, he said Fournier took a phone call. He said he tried to fight for her attention while she was on the phone for a long time.

“I told her I had a gun in the woods just to try to get her attention,” he said.

When that failed to get her attention, he said he wrote on a note that he was “done” and gave it to her. This note was later characterized by the Windham School Department as a resignation, but Worrey said had meant that he was done for the day. He said he did not intend it to be a resignation.

Worrey said, at that point, he gave up and left for the next bus run. “She didn’t tell me not to do it, so I did it,” he said.

Fournier has previously referred all questions to the superintendent. Prince did not return phone calls for comment on this story, but he sent a letter to town councilors in January with the following version of events:

“He told the supervisor he was very upset by developments in a private, non-work-related matter and said that he was all done from work, but that he would finish his morning run. He wrote out his resignation, gave it to the supervisor, repeated that he was all done and then added that he had a gun in the woods – with no further explanation. Then the phone rang. Due to the fact that no one else was available to answer the phone, the supervisor was compelled to pick up the phone. The supervisor could not ignore it, because it could have been an urgent call. The driver left the supervisor’s office at that moment.”

After leaving the garage, Worrey said he spent about seven minutes putting fuel into the vehicle and made his bus run.

According to Prince’s version of events, Fournier attempted to contact him via the radio. Worrey said the radio volume was turned down, but he didn’t turn it down. He said he believes it might have been left down by a substitute driver.

He said he had his cellular telephone with him and Fournier had his number, but she didn’t call.

His bus run ended at the Manchester Elementary School. He said he was surprised when police cars blocked him after the last student stepped off the bus.

Worrey said two students with their parents witnessed him being frisked for weapons outside the Manchester School. He said the police could have stopped him when he was fueling, intercepted him on the way to the first bus stop or let him come back to the garage.

Worrey said he didn’t expect that the police would start asking him about suicide and put him in an ambulance headed to Mercy Hospital.

“I think they blew this way out of proportion,” said Worrey. He said he had never said anything like this before to Fournier and that he didn’t make a direct threat of suicide.

After being put in a small room at Mercy Hospital, Worrey said he was drugged and a guard was posted outside. He said after about eight hours of waiting around the guard left and he tried the door, finding it locked.

Next, he said he was confronted by nurses and three security guards who twisted him around and injected a sedative into his leg. He said he had knee surgery before the incident and the strain tore his meniscus, which will require a future operation.

Worrey said he woke up the next day at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford where he spent two more days. He said he then checked himself out and got a ride back home to Windham from a friend.

Worrey said Fournier told him he would need a doctor’s note to come back to work, but when he brought a note from his primary care physician, saying he was fit to return to work, she would not accept it.

He said he tried contacting his union, the Maine Education Association, because the school department would not let him come back to work, but received no help.

“All that union cares about is the teachers and educational technicians,” said Worrey. “The bus drivers, cooks and janitors are throwing their money away.”

Buddy Pinkham, a spokesman for the Maine Education Association, declined to comment.

Worrey said in mid-April he was asked to attend a meeting with school administrators, including Fournier and Prince. At that meeting, Worrey he was asked to resign or be terminated, according to Worrey. He said he got them to accept his parting as a retirement, even though he said he didn’t want to leave the career he spent more than two decades in.

“Windham is my home. I don’t want to work anywhere else,” said Worrey.

For now, Worrey said he can’t understand why he’s banned from all school property. He said he wasn’t able to finish helping special education students build ice fishing traps this winter and he won’t be able to volunteer with the junior hunting and fishing club this summer.

“You can do 10,000 good things and one wrong thing, and they just get rid of you,” said Worrey. “I feel like I’m a criminal.”

Former Windham School Department bus driver John Worrey said he was told to resign or be terminated by school officials last month. Alleged to have threatened suicide before driving his route in December, Worrey said his remark was blown “way out of proportion.”