Car hits Milwaukee school bus; 3 teens charged
MILWAUKEE - Three teens arrested last week after a stolen Kia crashed into a Milwaukee school bus have now been charged.
Court documents indicate the driver – a 14-year-old boy – is charged with first-degree reckless injury, hit-and-run, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, second-degree recklessly endangering safety and driving/operating a vehicle without owner's consent. The second teen is charged with operating a motor vehicle without owner's consent – a misdemeanor. The specific charge(s) filed against the third teen have not been disclosed.
Because the teens are charged as juveniles, FOX6 News is not identifying them. As of Friday, May 5, Milwaukee police said they had arrested the 14-year-old Milwaukee boy and three girls – ages 14, 14 and 15. A fifth person was still sought.
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Cellphone video (below) showed the car being driven recklessly – kids hanging out of the windows – before it slammed into the bus parked outside Morse Middle School just before 9 a.m. on May 1. FOX6 News froze the video at the time of impact – because it is graphic. After hitting the bus, the Kia hit an MPS pickup truck. The bus hit another vehicle due to the impact, too.
It did not take police long to identify the people involved. School surveillance video and a school administrator identified one of the passengers, and another witness identified the driver as a student at the school.
A 15-year-old boy, who was hanging out of the passengers' side of the car, was taken to a hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries. Court documents indicate he was in a medically induced coma as of May 5 after he suffered a crushed skull, fractured arm and brain bleed. An 11-year-old boy who was on the school bus was also taken to the hospital.
The documents say the driver "began pushing on (the 15-year-old's) shoulder" and tried to drag him. A Good Samaritan told him to stop, and he ran off. A woman pulled the 15-year-old out and couldn't find where he was bleeding from because "there was blood everywhere."
Home surveillance video, which FOX6 News acquired the day after the crash (below), showed a group of people running after the crash.
After the crash, one of the teens posted on Instagram about it – and later deleted the posts, according to the documents.
Court documents also indicate the Kia's owner did not find out her car was stolen until she was informed it was involved in the crash. She had parked it near 28th and Center – more than six miles from Morse Middle School – the night before the crash. The documents indicate she had a "club style" steering wheel lock that was "almost cut entirely and bent upwards."
All three teens are due back in juvenile court next month. Anyone with information is asked to call MPD at 414-935-7360; to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 tips app.