Pennsylvania police arrested a Florida man driving a stolen school bus with a dead deer in the back following a wild, multi-county pursuit, multiple outlets reported.
“Not only is it a felony because it’s a vehicle but the new part you add into it now, were there any children inside? Did the male stop to pick up any children?” Carroll Township Police Department’s Chief Thomas Wargo told WPMT. “None of that was known at the time.”
“The cop was blocking both lanes and then when it opened up a little bit, I was filming and was able to see the bus going over the embankment there and hoping there were no kids in it,” Jodi Leininger, a witness to part of the dangerous chase, told the outlet.
No children were aboard the bus and no one was injured during the chase, Chief Wargo also said.
Tony Jay Saunders, a 25-year-old man from Port Saint Lucie, Florida, was charged with fleeing an officer, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, and reckless driving, CBS News reported.
CTPD officers received a call at about 7:10 a.m. Tuesday regarding a bus that had been reported stolen from Abbottstown, Pennsylvania. Patrol officers spotted the bus driving through a Giant Foods and Rite Aid parking lot and said the lights on the bus were intermittently flicking on and off.
Authorities caught up with the stolen bus near the Mechanicsburg/Bowmansdale exit on Route 15, where they attempted a traffic stop.
After eventually pulling over, the bus “nearly immediately” pulled away. The driver then exited the highway and drove over a berm, nearly overturning the bus in the process, police said.
The driver then turned into a nearby neighborhood in Lower Allen Township. Police say he abandoned the bus and fled on foot into a wooded area.
Bystanders told police the man was wearing a black sweatshirt and provided addition physical description. The fleeing man led police through parking lots and a busy traffic area, police also said.
As he fled, he stripped his clothing. After being apprehended in the nude, he reportedly admitted to police that he had taken the bus earlier in the day after crashing a BMW.
Saunders told police he planned to use the dead deer he put in the back of the bus to fertilize his garden.
Saunders was held at the York County Prison following his arrest, according to KATV.
Watch WPMT’s footage of the bus nearly overturning as the driver flees police below.
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