A Queens man has been sentenced to seven years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision for stealing a school bus in East Flatbush. He drove recklessly across multiple police precincts, damaging property, other vehicles and injuring other drivers.
“Today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for his brazenly reckless conduct that caused mayhem across several communities and put countless lives at risk," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. "Thankfully there were not more serious injuries to the police officers and the public.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Anthony Reyes, 44, of Jamaica, Queens. The defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted assault on February 10, 2023.
According to the investigation, on December 2, 2021, at approximately 1:30pm, the defendant stole an unoccupied school bus with keys in the ignition and the engine running from the driveway of a house on East 51st Street in East Flatbush in the 67th precinct. A call was placed to 911 to report the stolen bus, along with its GPS location.
Police approached the vehicle and the defendant started to drive away, even though one officer was holding on to the vehicle. Eventually, the officer let go as the defendant fled in the bus. Within approximately 30 minutes, in the confines of the 73rd and 75th precincts, the defendant rammed into the side of a building and continued driving.
He then rammed into multiple vehicles, both parked and in the middle of the street stopped at a traffic light. Two of the vehicles still had individuals inside during the impact.
One of the vehicles he struck was occupied by a woman, and police managed to pull her out of the vehicle before the defendant struck it a second time, dragging the vehicle down the street. Eventually, the defendant was apprehended by police in the confines of the 75th precinct. As a result of the incident, multiple people suffered minor injuries.
