Driver evades gang members following bus after on-board fight
After a student involved in a fight on the bus jumped from the rear emergency door and got in a car with two other men to follow the bus, Harnett County school bus driver Sha-Wana Cameron was able to evade the car and contact police.
COATS, N.C. — After a fight broke out between two students on a Harnett County school bus at a bus stop this week, two men emerged from a car parked nearby and attempted to board the bus.
Bus driver Sha-Wana Cameron closed the bus door to prevent the men from boarding and pulled away from the curb, WRAL reports. One of the students involved in the fight then opened the rear emergency door and jumped out of the bus, joining the men in their car.
The car began to follow the bus, beginning a two-mile chase during which the car tried at one point to cut the bus off. Cameron was able to evade the car and called 911 using her cell phone, according to WRAL. She drove the bus to a police station. Police were able to locate the car and arrest the three occupants.
Each was charged with attempted kidnapping, armed to the terror of the people, impeding a school bus and pattern of gang activity. The two students will be charged with simple affray.
Coats Police Chief Eddie Jaggers said the incident appears to be gang-related, with the men in the car apparently trying to retaliate against a member of a rival gang.
"In talking with all the students, (Cameron) was very composed during the event and was always in control," Harnett County Sheriff Larry Rollins told WRAL.
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