9-Year-Old Bus Thief Hits Another Bus

Nobody injured by Saskatoon joyrider
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2014 12:14 PM CDT
9-Year-Old Bus Thief Hits Another Bus
A city bus in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.   (Wikimedia Commons)

A Canadian who made off with an empty bus and smashed into another bus and a parked vehicle won't be facing any criminal charges—because nobody was injured in the joyride, and because he's just 9 years old. A witness in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, tells the Canadian Press that he saw the boy ride by on a bike before making off with the city bus, which had been left unlocked outside a garage with the engine running. "I looked in my mirror and I saw a little head in the driver’s seat of the bus," says the man, who chased the bus for two blocks until it got stuck on a curb, and kept the boy there until authorities arrived.

Police say the boy was taken home to his family. A city transit official tells the CBC that the bus was being repaired and should never have been left unsecured. This is a case where "policy and procedures were very clearly violated," he says. "Buses are not to be left in that condition." The brakes were on, so it's not clear how the boy was able to drive the bus, he says. The damage to the two buses and the car is estimated at less than $10,000 Canadian, according to the official, who says the city isn't currently planning punitive action. (A 9-year-old in Florida who stole his mom's car because he wanted to skip school managed to drive around for 45 minutes without an accident.)

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