- We’re not sure if we could’ve made this story up if we tried.
You ever hear a story that makes you go, “Yeah, that happened in Florida”? There’s that delicate mixture of bizarre, scary, and utterly unhinged that just screams Florida.
Here’s an example. A man steals a school bus, leads the police on a multi-county chase, and is eventually arrested naked. And there’s a dead deer in the back of the bus for some reason.
Classic Florida, right?
Except it’s not. This thing happened in Pennsylvania.
Yeah, the location is the part of that story that we made up. Everything else actually happened.
Maybe Florida is spreading northwards.
The Bus (and the Deer)
The bizarre incident happened on April 4. Around 7 a.m. on the day, the Carroll Township Police Department (CTPD) received a phone call about a stolen school bus, the department said in a statement.
Got to start your outlandish rampage early, you know?
According to the caller, they had spotted a bus the Gettysburg PA State Police had reported as stolen earlier that morning. The suspected bus thief was identified as one Tony Saunders, 24.
Eyewitness reports state that Saunders had entered a school bus parking in the early hours of the morning. They also said he had been hauling a dead deer at the time.
Where he got the deer, no one knows. We’re not sure we want to know.
Anyway, Saunders somehow managed to pry open one of the buses and dragged the deer carcass inside. He then hopped into the driver’s seat and took off.
The Chase
After CTPD was alerted about the bus, officers on patrol also saw the vehicle. They began a pursuit but it soon became clear that Saunders may not have known how to operate the bus.
“Officers observed that the lights on the bus were turning on and off intermittently,” the CTPD said.
However, the details of the bus matched the vehicle that had been reported as stolen. So, at least the cops knew they were after the right vehicle.
What followed has a prolonged chase that crossed multiple counties. During the chase, Saunders reportedly engaged in multiple risky stunts.
At one point, officers attempted to perform a traffic stop to bring the bus to a halt. Saunders appeared to comply at first, but hopped lanes and pulled away as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
He then continued along a highway, “winding in and out of traffic lanes.” After some time, Saunders took the bus off the highway by driving over a berm, nearly tipping the heavy vehicle over in the process.
The chase continued a while longer as Saunders steered his bus into a nearby neighborhood. Finally, though, he stopped the vehicle and got out.
And then he took off running.
The Naked Runner
As Saunders got off the bus, some locals happened to spot him. Then again, it’s probably kind of hard to miss a school bus plowing through your neighborhood.
They gave the police a description of Saunders’ appearance and clothing before they began to chase after him. However, he must’ve somehow realized that, because he began to strip off his clothing as he ran.
“As [Saunders] fled from Police, he led them through parking lots and busy traffic areas which had vehicles entering and exiting businesses,” the CTPD reported.
All the while, Saunders kept throwing off more and more clothes until he was sprinting along buck-naked. Yet, his mad dash for freedom couldn’t last.
Eventually, the cops cornered Saunders and he surrendered.
The Questions
We’re certain the cops had plenty of questions first Saunders after arresting him. Some of them probably included “What the hell?” and “Why?”
Being surprisingly cooperative, Saunders shed some light on the motives of his actions. He admitted to stealing the school bus — after he had crashed the BMW earlier in the morning.
We couldn’t find out whether that was his own car or another stolen vehicle.
But what about the dead deer? Well, Saunders had a good reason for having it.
He was going to take it home to use as fertilizer for his garden. He didn’t explain where he found the carcass, at least based on police reports.
The man has now been charged with one count of fleeing from a police officer, one count of receiving stolen property, 18 counts of resisting arrest, and 75 counts of reckless driving.
No, but seriously. Where did he get the deer?
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