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12-year-old takes school bus for joyride

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A 12-year-old boy was cycling at 4am in his neighbourhood on Tuesday when he spotted a parked school bus with the key in the ignition.

What he was doing up so early and out of bed, we have no idea.

But Michael Wade Propst saw his chance to drive a school bus, and he took it.

He drove the large vehicle for 24km in Panama City, Florida. Surprisingly, the only damage to the bus was a 2.4m scrap on one side.

He was arrested at about 5am when a Walmart employee spotted him having difficulty parking the bus and called the police.

Mr Roy Hoover said: “It was just odd the way he was driving it. He was having a hard time parking it, like he’d never driven one before.”

Charged with serious crime

Officers stopped the vehicle, and the boy emerged claiming a man had asked him to get petrol for the bus.

He later admitted to taking it on his own.

The boy was charged with grand theft of an item worth more than US$100,000 (S$125,000) and felony criminal mischief.

He was also charged with grand theft for a missing device worth about US$2,000.

Michael's mother asked officers to talk to him “since she was not having any impact on him", The News Herald reported.

What about the actual driver assigned to that school bus?

As Mr Brandon Curtis had a clean record, the 28-year-old was suspended for only two weeks by the school district for leaving the bus outside his home, unlocked, with the key still inside.

Sources: Huffington PostThe News Herald, The Washington Free Beacon, WFTV.com, Inquisitr, KFOR.com, Digital Journal, Florida Today

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