Bus hostage attempt by an 11 year old and a small knife.

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Driver foils grade-schoolers' bid to hijack bus
Children planned to take bus to Nevada
Saturday, January 22, 2005

By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



When an 11-year-old boy held a pocketknife to the throat of an unsuspecting student yesterday morning on his school bus, he demanded that the driver stop.

She did, but the outcome was not what he and his three friends were hoping for.

Apparently, they wanted the 52-year-old driver to get off the bus, and they planned on driving it to Nevada. Never mind that none of them was tall enough to reach the gas pedals and see out the windshield at the same time.

After Janet McQuown stopped the bus along Pine Tree Church Road in Oliver, Jefferson County, she told the young boy to give her the knife, which had a 3- to 4-inch blade. After she asked a few times, he handed the weapon to her and the incident was over.

The four children involved -- three 11-year-old boys and a 10-year-old girl -- were turned over to administrators at Mapleview Elementary School in Punxsutawney.

Two of the boys, whom state police believe did most of the planning, were taken into custody by Jefferson County juvenile justice authorities. The other two children were released to their parents. No names have been released, and no one was injured in the incident.

According to state Trooper Scott Baran, possible charges against the children could include attempted robbery, attempted kidnapping, aggravated assault, simple assault, criminal conspiracy, risking a catastrophe, harassment and disorderly conduct.

Officials with the Punxsutawney Area School District could not be reached for comment last evening.

McQuown, who is employed by Krise Transportation, said she wasn't allowed to discuss many details from yesterday's incident.

"It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to be afraid," she said. "It was over in 30 seconds."

She said she never raised her voice at the four suspects, and she didn't leave them any room to debate.

"They know I mean business," she said. "There was no question about it."

After she got the knife away from them, she told the four children to sit still and be quiet for the rest of the trip to school, about 20 minutes, and they did.

McQuown, who has been driving a bus for nine years, believes that most of the 40 or so other students on her bus didn't even know anything had happened.

"The kids were just sitting there, chitty-chattin'," she said of the other students on board. "I was totally directed by God. I could not have reasoned that out and have it happen any better."

Baran did not know why the children wanted to go to Nevada. He does know that they talked about their plans on Thursday, and that the subject may have come up in the past, as well.

As to why the children gave up so easily, McQuown said she wasn't sure.

"Apparently, they did not have a Plan B."




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She handled that well :eek: I would have had a hard time giving up the knife though ;)
 
NeedleRemorse said:
The four children involved -- three 11-year-old boys and a 10-year-old girl -- were turned over to administrators at Mapleview Elementary School in Punxsutawney.

What do you expect from a city where people worship a ground hog?
 
They don't have woodchucks in Nevada as far as I know , only prairie dogs. Or did they want to gamble?
 
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