Gridlock Guy: Terror and pain from bus hijacking still present a year later

One of the wildest and scariest moments in Atlanta traffic history did not lodge itself in the metro area’s psyche in the same way that 2014’s Snowmageddon or 2017’s I-85 bridge collapse did. Those “I remember where I was” moments affected commutes far and wide and burned images into drivers’ minds. They were epic and terrible but also birthed stories of cooperation and resilience, both from drivers and first responders.

The June 11, 2024, bus hijacking that scorched the earth between downtown Atlanta and Tucker was memorable but ephemeral. The hijacking and police pursuit came on the heels of a mass shooting in the Peachtree Center food court, which the bus’s hijacker, Joseph Grier, witnessed. This triggered what appeared to be a mental breakdown, which led Grier to get into an altercation on the bus, steal a passenger’s gun, shoot and kill that passenger and then put a gun to the driver’s head.

The pursuit lasted about 45 minutes, going up I-75/85/northbound (Downtown Connector), up I-85/northbound, then down Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Gwinnett. The Gwinnett County transit bus went southeast on Jimmy Carter, which turns into Mountain Industrial Boulevard at the DeKalb County line.

The bus went east on Hugh Howell Road, as police had shot out some of its mechanical components. The wounded beast finally came to a halt in a residential portion of Hugh Howell, and the suspect surrendered.

I-85/northbound fairly quickly reopened after a police barricade. Other roads recovered to the normal rush hour ugly. And the infamous bus hijacking became another footnote in a long list of Atlanta traffic oddities.

While the legal saga continues for Grier, the recovery continues for those caught in his tornadic path.

Gloria White sat in the westbound lanes of Hugh Howell Road, in the midst of running errands on what should have been a normal day. She saw the bus and the trailing horde of sirens and tried to rationalize it. She had heard on the news that the King and Queen of the Netherlands were in town.

“Maybe they’re getting a tour, but they were being followed by like 50 police cars, and I’d never seen that many police cars in my life,” White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The bus made a clumsy left turn into White’s lanes, as the distressed driver seemingly tried to scrub off speed. The runaway bus sideswiped White’s car as the nightmare unfolded in front of her in slow motion. White had tried to escape her lane before the bus hit, but the car in front of her sat too close. The driver behind White rear-ended her, making a second brutal blow.

White suffered broken and bruised ribs, she said. She is still in physical therapy and has had mental health counseling, too. She also had to board her dog for three months after the crash, since she couldn’t bend over to pick it up.

The bus chase lasted much longer for White and others directly involved than it did for the rest of Atlanta.

And White saw it in slow motion, as many people do when they have near-death experiences. “It slowed down enough that when the bus was coming toward me, I saw the bus driver. I saw the guy standing behind him. I saw the fear in the bus driver’s eyes. He was trying everything he could to avoid me. So, I’m very thankful for that bus driver and that he had many years of experience — that he didn’t let fear overtake him and do something completely reckless,” White said.

White thought for sure that she was a goner, but she lives to tell this story. In fact, the lifetime Atlantan has channeled her terrifying encounter into the climax of her stand-up comedy acts around town.

She said that she had family drive her to her first open mic nights at Laughing Skull Lounge before she could drive again and within a few weeks of the harrowing event. We won’t blow her punchlines here and cannot anyway in this family-friendly publication. You can find her comedy on her Instagram handle, @gloriawhitecomedy.

White does tell audience members at her shows that she survived “Grand Theft Auto: Atlanta Edition” — as did many others on that fateful day.

While Grier’s case is still being decided in Fulton County, White is glad the previously convicted felon, whom police had arrested over a dozen times before the hijacking, is not on the streets. “I hope that he’s getting help.”

And White had this for the family of the slain passenger, Ernest Byrd Jr.: “I’m sorry to the people in their family.”

White said she still has PTSD from the blaring sirens in that pursuit, and she now plans exit strategies at crowded events, even her comedy shows.

Most traffic incidents are only about delays to us. Most major news stories are only headlines that get washed and drowned in the news cycle. But many of both sprout deep roots that hold into the earthy consciousnesses of the victims. But people like Gloria White soldier on and carry those headlines. These survivors heal while they pace gingerly down the highway of life.

Credit: Benjamin Hendren

Credit: Benjamin Hendren

Doug Turnbull has covered Atlanta traffic for over 20 years and written “Gridlock Guy” since 2017. Doug also co-hosts the “Five to Go Podcast,” a weekly deep dive on stories in motorsports. Contact him at fireballturnbull@gmail.com.