Posted on 09/02/2005 12:55:36 PM PDT by rattrap
Several school buses were stolen from Orleans Parish, loaded with storm victims and driven out of New Orleans toward Houston in desperate acts to leave the ravaged city, according to reports.
Three school buses were stopped Thursday night in Port Allen, La., just west of Baton Rouge after they were stolen, according to WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge. The evacuees were placed on other buses and transferred to shelters in Texas.
An 18-year-old also decided to take matters into his own hands and stole an abandoned city school bus and drove storm victims to Texas, according to a CNN report.
The teen driver, Jabbar Gibson, 18, said he had never driven a bus before but wanted to save people.
"If it wasn't for him, we'd still be in New Orleans on the Gulf," bus passenger Randy Nathan said. "He got the bus for us."
Authorities allowed the renegade passengers inside the Astrodome but Gibson could find himself in trouble after taking the school bus.
Meanwhile, Katrina refugees who had finally arrived by bus from the steamy Superdome were left in limbo for more than two hours after officials suddenly announced that the Astrodome was too full to accept them.
Early Friday, after waiting on board and milling about the parking lot, the passengers were redirected to an adjacent exhibit hall, said Houston press secretary Patrick Trahan.
The change only added to the frustration of victims like Patricia Profit, who had relatives already inside the stadium.
"Before we left New Orleans, they said everybody will be in the Astrodome," said Profit as she stood outside one of the buses. "'Don't panic, don't worry, you'll still be with your family.' That's what they told us. Now we can't be with our family."
The daylong stream of buses was halted late Thursday, when the stadium population reached 11,325, less than half the 23,000 people that authorities had expected to put there.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story
Maybe the 18 year old should run for mayor.
Seconded.
He adapted, he improvised, and he overcame. He should BE the mayor! Nagin is like a deer in the headlights..
I don't blame them. I seem to remember that the Mayor himself announced before the hurricane hit that the City reserved the right to commandeer private property and vehicles in order to respond to the emergency.
It's ironic that the City failed completely in that task, and now the "vigilantes" have taken matters into their own hands.
Well, we know already this 18-year old has done far more to rescue people and save NO lives than the Mayor has done.
It isn't like the mayor was putting those buses to use or anything. You done good, kid.
It's not like they were going to KEEP the damn bus.......
When the government steals property for a legitimate emergency need, they call it "commandeering".
Maybe this kid should run for office in NOLA.
The kid deserves a medal.
He acted like a good ole American he used his wits and he got himself and others out of trouble. If he gets prosecuted I will pitch in for a good lawyer.
Same here.
Typical BS - Bureaucratic Authority wants to punish a hero because they are too stupid to come up with a common sense idea themselves - duh! - hey, let's use all those empty school buses to move people, duh....idiots. They should be the ones prosecuted, not the 18 year old hero...they are probably pissed because he appears to be so much brighter than they are - especially the idiot Mayor of NO!
By this single "lawless" act, he did more than the so-called "lawful" acts of the "Mayor" of NOLA and "Governor" of LA. I believe I will commence to referring them to the evil twins. Seeno and Hearno Evil.
That is not stealing, it is a like citizen's arrest -- he fulfilled the role of absent or negligent official police authority in commandeering the vehicle for a needed and emergency civic purpose.
Saying he "stole" the bus is a bit much. The city abandoned it when it was desperately needed for the very thing he did, save people. There's no indication that he took it with any intent to keep it or sell it. This was a responsible act in a terrible emergency, an act that was far wiseer than what the NO mayor did, who sat on the busses and never even thought of using them for evacuations. What a nitwit the mayor is.
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