Man hijacks, crashes Atlanta school bus

ATLANTA (AP) — A shirtless man hijacked an Atlanta public-school bus with about a dozen students aboard Thursday and then jumped out of the driver’s seat as the bus careened down a steep hill, a school spokesman said. Two students and the bus driver were injured, authorities said.

By the time he was arrested after the crash, he was naked, police said.

Arris Pitmon, 23, jumped into the stopped bus through a window as a student was being dropped off in a southeast Atlanta neighborhood, police said. He overpowered the woman bus driver and took control of the steering wheel, said Atlanta Police Officer James Polite. He then left the seat to chase the driver, who had run to the rear of the bus, he said.

A student attempted to take the wheel, but Polite said Pitmon fought him to regain control of the bus. The bus continued down the road throughout the ordeal, leaving the roadway and crashing through a fence and finally stopping at a wall about 175 feet off the pavement.

All the while, screaming students from Forrest Academy jumped out of the bus through the emergency exit in the back, said Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Keith Bromery. Bystanders detained Pitmon, said Polite. The academy has students in grades seven through 12.

Authorities didn’t say whether Pitmon had a relationship with the bus driver. Surveillance video from a nearby gas station showed the shirtless suspect crouching and fidgeting as he walked through the lobby before jumping aboard.

Polite was uncertain if the man was naked when he hijacked the bus, but a witness, Corey Turner, told WSB-TV the man had shed his sweat pants by the time it crashed.

School officials, meanwhile, are thankful that the bizarre hijacking didn’t turn out worse.