Bus Stolen By Teen Puzzles Investigators
CLEVELAND — A teenager is arrested after police say he stole an RTA bus from a local maintenance yard.
Just after midnight Thursday, a supervisor noticed an RTA bus parked near East 12th and Superior with some minor damage.
“She saw a broken mirror and she saw a broken window and that’s when she approached the bus, then she called transit police,” said RTA spokesperson Mary Shaffer.
The supervisor also saw a 16-year-old boy in the driver’s seat.
“It’s something we’ve never seen before, so we’re trying to figure it out,” Shaffer said.
According to RTA officials, the teen stole a bus from the RTA central bus maintenance facility on Woodhill Road on the city’s east side.
They are trying to figure out how long he had it and where he took it, but it was found about 12 miles from the facility.
“We’re in the process of investigating how this happened, how did he get to the bus and what happened along the way,” she said.
According to the RTA, these buses do not turn on with a key, so the teenager had to know the correct buttons to start the bus.
Even though the bus the teen stole did have damage, investigators are trying to figure out how it happened.
“There are no reports of accidents with buses overnight, there’s no … we’ve talked with other police departments, there’s no reports of incidents with buses, so we don’t know exactly what happened or what the damage came from,” she said.
RTA officials say the bus was at the facility for routine maintenance, so it was not damaged before the teen took it.
They are also glad that no one was hurt.
“We know that there were no passengers on the bus, there were no injuries that were happening on the bus, we know when we apprehended the juvenile he was OK … and he’s been turned over to Cleveland police and we will work on charges,” said Shaffer.
