JACKSONVILLE, Ark. — A man who hijacked a school bus here on Thursday morning and took police on a 10-mile chase has been taken into custody and charged, CNN reports.
The incident began when 22-year-old Nicholas John Miller allegedly demanded a car from a woman in Jacksonville, according to police Capt. Kenny Boyd. The school bus had stopped nearby, and after the woman told Miller that she did not have a car to give him, he left her and boarded the bus, armed with a knife. Miller took over the driver’s seat.
The woman called police, who found the bus and pursued it to Cabot, Ark. Police were able to stop the bus about 20 minutes after the hijacking began, Boyd told CNN. Miller was taken into custody and was charged with a felony count of vehicle piracy, 12 felony counts of kidnapping and two felony counts of aggravated assault, Jacksonville police spokeswoman April Kiser told the news outlet.
The 11 students on the bus and the bus driver were not injured in the incident. Boyd said that investigators don’t yet know why the bus was hijacked.
Fox 16 reports that this isn’t Miller’s first run-in with police. According to incident reports from the Jacksonville Police Department, officers have dealt with him three previous times this year, including once in the last 10 days, as well as an incident involving the theft of a Sherwood Police Department shotgun.
Nine days before the school bus incident, a woman told police that Miller was high on methamphetamine and had just assaulted and threatened to kill her if she took his son away, according to Fox 16.
The officer did not observe any injuries on the woman, but told her that if Miller could be located within the next four hours, they would arrest him for terroristic threatening and third-degree domestic assault. The report does not specify whether Miller was ever arrested or charged in relation to this incident, the news outlet reports.
Man hijacks Arkansas school bus
Nicholas John Miller boards the bus armed with a knife and commandeers the bus, driving it from Jacksonville, Ark., to Cabot, Ark., before police stop the bus. Miller is arrested and faces several charges, including a felony count of vehicle piracy, 12 felony counts of kidnapping and two felony counts of aggravated assault. Neither the bus driver nor the 11 students on the bus are injured.
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