14 DAY TRIAL // A 12-year-old boy whose identity has not yet been shared with the public was taken into police custody earlier this week, on Wednesday, after being found behind the wheel of a stolen school bus.
The arrest was made by officers in Franklin County in Florida, US, who say that they only pulled the bus over in order to get a closer look at its driver after noticing that the vehicle was moving in a rather hectic pattern.
They found that the school bus was having trouble sticking to its designated side of the road not because it was experiencing technical difficulties, but because its driver was a teenager who was pretty much oblivious to traffic rules and regulations.
According to Huffington Post, the teenager that police officers in Franklin County arrested this past Wednesday lives some 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) from the place where he had his run in with the law, in the city of Parker.
The 12-year-old boy left his home on Tuesday night. At that time, he simply jumped behind the wheel of his family's car and decided to go for a drive under the moonlight. Hours later, he ditched the car and replaced it with a bus he stole from a local elementary school.
The wackiest thing about this piece of news is that, by the looks of it, the teenager's little adventure earlier this week is not the first of this kind the boy has until now gone through. To be more precise, it's his second.
Police officers say that, just weeks ago, the boy was arrested on the grounds of having stolen yet another school bus and taking it for a ride around Panama City. At that time, he was charged with felony criminal mischief and theft of an item valued at over $100,000 (€73,815).
Following his second school bus-assisted joyride, the 12-year-old stands to be charged with trespassing on school property, grand theft auto, and burglary of conveyance, information shared with the public says.
Word has it that, although the city attorney in charge of seeing this case through could choose to charge the teenager as an adult, the boy will instead be trialed as a minor. All things considered, this will probably shield him from too harsh a sentence.
The bad news is that, as lenient as the city attorney handling this incident might be ready and willing to be, Bay District School officials are seriously considering expelling the young thief. Whether or not they will actually do so is to be established at an upcoming expulsion hearing.