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Queens man busted for ruinous school bus joyride through Brooklyn

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A man driving a stolen school bus crashed into seven parked cars and a homeless shelter in East New York on Dec. 2, 2021.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

Prosecutors indicted a Queens man Monday on charges of stealing a school bus last month and taking it for a ruinous joyride across Kings County, causing injuries to numerous people and heavy-duty property damage.

Anthony Reyes, 43, of Jamaica, Queens, stole a school bus, engine running and keys in the ignition, from a driveway on East 51st Street in East Flatbush on the afternoon of Dec. 2, 2021, alleges Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. Cops received a 911 call reporting the bus missing, and by following a GPS tracker caught up to Reyes soon after on Jackie Robinson Parkway in Cypress Hills, more than three miles away, where he had parked the bus.

Reyes then began to drive away as cops approached the vehicle, even as one officer was holding onto the departing yellow bus. Police chased Reyes as the scofflaw made a mad-dash through East New York, crashing into the side of a homeless shelter but continuing his joyride in earnest.

The fuzz soon caught up with Reyes, surrounding the pilfered bus as it billowed smoke, as seen in video posted online. As he attempted to escape his fate, Reyes smashed the bus into several parked cars, some of which were occupied, before driving off with cops on his tail. Reyes’ trail of mayhem left three people with minor injuries, a DA spokesperson said, and caused thousands of dollars in property damage.

Cops finally managed to apprehend Reyes at Jamaica and Sheffield avenues in East New York, near a McDonald’s.

“This defendant caused mayhem across several neighborhoods when he allegedly stole a school bus and crashed numerous times before being stopped by police,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Luckily, he did not cause more serious injuries or death. We will now seek to hold him accountable for his reckless actions.”

Reyes, who was out on parole for a robbery conviction at the time of the joyride, has been hit with a 43-count indictment running the gamut of attempted assault, grand larceny, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief, among other charges.

He is being held on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash bail after being arraigned Friday, and is due back in court on March 11.