Posted on 11/26/2005 1:08:10 PM PST by Ellesu
NEW ORLEANS — An Algiers man hailed by some as a hero for commandeering a school bus the day after Hurricane Katrina to take 60 stranded residents to safety in Houston has been arrested on drug charges where his bus journey began: the Fischer public housing complex. Jabar Gibson, 20, who garnered a movie deal and national attention as the renegade bus driver, was booked Friday with possession with intent to distribute heroin after police stopped his rental car for allegedly driving erratically, New Orleans police said. Gibson and another man, Gary Burnett, were traveling near the public housing complex about 12:30 p.m. when they veered slightly and nearly struck the police cruiser of officers Michael Pierce and Cory McKain, Pierce said. The officers pursued the men's car. the suspects stopped it and ran toward the apartment complex, tossing what police said were drugs on the ground. They were quickly caught. Gibson became a national figure when he stole an Orleans Parish School bus to rescue himself and his neighbors the day after Katrina struck.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That's a shame. From Hero to Zero.
Can't get out of the way of stupid.
Gee, do you think his criminal history and future will be portrayed in the movie?
Muslim?
Very sad, very disappointing. He obviously has some courage and resourcefulness - it's a shame he can't channel that to get his life together and turn away from crime and drugs.
He saved a few people with bus he stole, killed others with the heroin he sold.
Interesting BTTT (very possible)
"Two weeks before the storm, on Aug. 18, authorities said Gibson led police on a highspeed chase that ended with a wreck and left four officers injured. He was charged with possession of stolen property and resisting arrest by flight.
Gibson's police record also includes charges of aggravated assault, crack possession with intent to distribute and possession of a stolen car."
N.O. not worth rebuilding.
Thursday, August 18, 2005He was on probation prior to the above offense.
New Orleans -- Today, New Orleans Police have arrested 20-year-old Jabar Gibson and 22-year-old Otis Louis and booked them with possession of a stolen automobile and other offenses after officers spotted them inside of a stolen vehicle. The incident began at West Lake Drive and I-10 Service Road, in New Orleans East.
Even after his previous convictions and reputation, he could have turned his foolish life around with his book deal had he stayed clean.
Selling herion ruins lives and now I question the whole hero story too.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Irish?
Selling herion ruins lives and now I question the whole hero story too.
Hebrew.
I dont doubt he drove a bus to Houston and people got on for a ride away from the hell that was New Orleans.
But I dont picture him stopping at each corner and swinging the door open and inviting them to save their lives. (I could be wrong)
Here is a petition to Congress to have him given the Presidential Medal of Honor:
http://www.petitiononline.com/JG0007Q/petition.html
Yep, even a loser gets their 15 minutes of fame.
I don't know why people (i.e. the media) act all surprised when they hear these type of stories. Before Katrina, New Orleans housed some of the worst drug dealers and other criminals in the country. It's not as if that has changed or that the hurricane changed many of their habits. It seems like weekly I read about a Katrina "victim" who has been arrested for something, or has commited some kind of fraud. Sad, but that's just how it is there.
What a stinking shame.
They have caused all kinds of trouble here in Atlanta.
How on earth do you know / why on earth do you think / this man was ever clean?!
Probably no one would wish this man ill, and most would think it nice if he would clean up his act; however, this article is simply neither news nor newsworthy.
"Why are you not surprised?"
Just read the papers.
Seems very time somebody does something "heroic" they turn out to have be fatallly flawed in some way.
As in the Ashley Smith case in Atlanta who just happened to have a bag of meth and gave it to the escaped murderer.
I am in Huntsville, AL where one hotel is housing about 50 of them. They showed them on the news the other night, and my husband remarked that if they have been unable to find housing/jobs/transportation in three months in our VERY affordable city, then they can't be looking that hard. I feel bad for them, but after three months of chilling in a hotel on our tax $$, it's time to start finding something to do.
This truly sickens me.
This guy was my hero.
I had forwarded the school bus story to so many people because I thought it was SOOO awesome and showed what folks need to do. I was looking forward to the book and/or movie.
That sucks!
Further investigation will probably show the media provided the bus and gas money.
They are KNOWN for manufacturing stories when things get slow, and yes, I was gullible on this one. I thought it was great.
A pest-hole... give it back to the river.
Yeah, he innocent. Its those darn Liberals!
rebuild the harbor......scrap the city!
Texas was talking about cutting the hotel freebies out, but it was somehow extended.
more likely in this situation it should be
"Stearcus sachidet"
"s**t happens"
CC
If I had been one of his passengers, he would have been a hero to me. The media might have helped expose his heroism, but they did not make him a hero. His actions did.
Unfortunately, his own actions have also made him a zero. Or do you think the media did that too?
Please, get off your high horse before you get a nose bleed.
The redemtion comes in if he does something good after being bad, not the other way around. He's a pusher and dealer. You like pushers and dealers?
welcome to FreeRepublic....hope your stay will be longer than it's appearing to be.
Presidential Medal of Freedom.... The petition is a lot of baloney and won't go anywhere.
I don't remember him going door to door either as I thought he and a couple of his buds went to the maintenance shop and picked some buses up and came back home to pick a load up. I think this was the only bus of those taken to make it out to Houston.
Anyway he's had his few minutes of fame and now it seems he's back to his old ways....
A little out of you element, aint ya?
Not funny.
Doesn't this kill the theory that junkies have no other initiative than getting high.
Yeah, only change the medal to a 10X lethal dose of heroin!
He could split it with Tookie!
Here in Birmingham, the Katrina "victims" have committed every thing from murder on down. I guess they feel they will not be recognized by the citizenry here and get a free ride. They are enjoying a long free vacation right now all over the U.S. We may not ever be free of them, just have to dig deeper to support them in style forever.
Now how he knew to head to Houston and the Dome I don't know other than word on the street in New Orleans.
How or why this known drug dealer would drive a bunch of people to Houston ... and, how he knew the way [unless it was part of his regular drug trade route along the I-10 corridor] ... and/or how/why he knew just coincidentally to take people to the Astrodome once he arrived in Houston ...
Well, it has all seemed a bit suspect to me from the very beginning; but, I was willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt ... until now.
My cardinal rule: always be suspicious of coincidence.
I am certainly willing to give the man his "due" ... just not sure what his "due" is ...
There is not even a whiff of schadenfreude when I say that, perhaps, it is time for other people to understand what the good people of New Orleans [and other cities similarly situated] have had to endure for so long.
I remember that night and a lot of us said he and a few others looked stoned and other Freepers were livid that we would think much less say that...
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