Suspect Crashes Into School Bus Full Of Kids, Pulls Gun On Witnesses
DENVER (CBS4) – Multiple children were rushed to the hospital after a hit-and-run crash caused their school bus to topple over on Wednesday. Middle and high school students from HOPE Online Learning Academy were on their bus ride home when the collision took place.
As Central Park residents near 28th and Havana rushed in to help students get out of the bus, two others started chasing suspects who were running from the scene.
Witnesses told CBS4's Dillon Thomas two vehicles were driving fast through the neighborhood, one chasing the other following a hit-and-run. When they approached the intersection of 28th and Havana, one vehicle hit the bus. The people inside that vehicle ran away.
"It was a tremendous collision. He T-boned the van. Knocked it over. The van slid across the street," one man said. "It was a horrific scene with kids out on the curb crying."
"It was a little scary. They were like middle school or high school kids," said Taylor Dennington, one of the residents who heard the collision and saw the response.
One witness, who wished not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said he and his neighbor both ran after one of the suspects for an estimated 10-15 minutes. The trio ran through alleyways and roadways through the neighborhood.
Eventually the man was able to grab the suspect for a brief moment.
"He hit me in the face," the man said.
Minutes later that man and his neighbor, were once again able to corner the same suspect.
However, they were forced to draw back, "He turned and pulled a gun on us, pointed it at us."
Shortly after the suspect allegedly pulled out a gun, police arrived on scene and took him in to custody. The witness believed the suspect was a teenager.
Medics treated some students on scene and took others to the hospital. Some parents picked their students up from the scene and took them to be checked at the hospital, as well. A spokesperson for the school said all were released from the hospital, most with bumps and bruises. One student suffered a broken nose.
The man who chased the suspect applauded his neighbors for stepping into action on a moment's notice to help strangers.
"Everyone who saw it ran right to it," he said. "If we wouldn't have chased them, the police would've never found them."
CBS4 reached out to Denver police for an update on the investigation. DPD declined to provide further information but encouraged anyone with information about the crash or suspects to report it.
