Students, citizens thwart bus hijacking

By MASHAUN D. SIMON


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Quick thinking by a dozen teenagers may have avoided an apparent school bus hijacking from turning tragic, said witnesses.

At about 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon, an Atlanta Public Schools bus ran off of Boulevard Road after Arris Pitmon, 23, forced his way onto the bus transporting Forrest Hills Academy students and began attacking the driver and a student.

Pitmon boarded the bus as it stopped at Boulevard and Burroughs Road, school district and Atlanta police officials said.

He briefly fought with the driver, forcing her out of the seat and taking control of the bus. He attempted to drive the bus, but then went after the driver who had gone to the back of the bus with the students.

As other students escaped through the back emergency exit, one-by-one, along with the bus driver, a 16 year old male tried to take control of the steering wheel and fought with Pitmon.

Eventually, the bus jumped a sidewalk, slid down a hill and crashed into a fence.

While all of this was going on, gardeners Billy Rainey and Lamar Frazier were working nearby on the grounds of Abundant Life Church of God in Christ.

“We just saw a bunch of kids running and screaming about someone trying to take the bus,” said Rainey.

Traffic halted on Boulevard.

“The lady bus driver was asking someone in a vehicle for a phone,” said Frazier.

Rainey, Frazier and their boss, Corey Turner, surrounded the bus, trapping Pitmon inside.

“He was just sitting inside, butt naked and trying to drive the bus,” said Rainey, adding that Pitmon was without a shirt and his sweat pants were down to his knees.

Eventually Pitmon got off the bus through the back door. He fell into the arms of a group of people, including parents and bystanders, who by then had also surrounded the bus, said Rainey.

“They started attacking him,” he said.

Turner managed to calm the people down, stopping them from attacking Pitmon, and pinned him to the ground until the police arrived.

One injured student and the bus driver were transported to Grady Hospital and Atlanta Medical Center, said police and school officials.

There were no serious injuries, said Keith Bromley, school district media relations director.

“They were transported as a precaution,” he said.

If the kids had not gotten out when they did, said Frazier, the bus could have flipped over.

“That was the smartest thing those kids could have done,” he said. “It saved those kids.”