‘Missing’ teen steals two school buses and crashes one into ditch, Arkansas cops say

An Arkansas teenager is accused of stealing two school buses and then crashing into a ditch, police say.

The 15-year-old was “nowhere to be found” after school ended at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 9, according to a Conway Police Department report. Worried, the teen’s mother reported him missing.

But shortly after Conway police began looking for the boy, they learned he was in the nearby town of Mayflower — and in the custody of the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office, according to the report.

Deputies said the teen had been driving a Conway Public Schools bus and crashed it into a ditch, according to police.

The teen’s alleged joyriding started earlier in the day, police said. He first stole a school bus from Conway High School, then drove it to Conway Junior High School, where he commandeered a second bus.

Police say dispatchers “received multiple calls of service regarding a (school bus) driving recklessly through the city” and eventually out of city limits.

The teen was given a juvenile citation and released from custody, police said.

Police didn’t comment on the extent of the damage to the bus, but they said it was towed to a repair center.

McClatchy News reached out to the school district for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Conway is a roughly 30-mile drive northwest from Little Rock.

This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 1:45 PM with the headline "‘Missing’ teen steals two school buses and crashes one into ditch, Arkansas cops say."