A 16-year-old mentally challenged boy who successfully stole a SEPTA bus in March, crashing it into a parking lot full of cars, tried to commandeer another bus Tuesday night, say police.
A SEPTA employee saw the teen board an empty parked bus at the 69th Street Terminal at about 8 p.m. Tuesday and asked him what he was doing. The SEPTA worker convinced the boy to leave the bus and go with her, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch told the Delaware County Times.
The 16-year-old mentally challenged boy lives in a group home and had ridden a SEPTA bus from South 43rd Street to the 69th Street Terminal that evening. Once he arrived at 69th Street, he tried to drive away with one of the parked buses, say police.
In his second trip to the Upper Darby police station, the teen was happy to see all of the detectives from the first time he was there, Chitwood said.
“When we brought him to the police station Tuesday night, it was like old home week for him,” Chitwood said. “He recognized the detectives from the last time, asking to borrow $20 from the sergeant. He wanted to see the officer’s handcuffs and gun.”
The teen was more successful March 17 when he stole a SEPTA bus from the same bus depot at 69th Street and Victory Avenue a little before noon, drove down West Chester Pike, made a drastic U-turn and barreled down 20 parked cars in a parking lot.
Nobody was hurt.
In the March incident, the keys to the bus had been left in the ignition. It is unknown if the keys were on the second bus the teen tried to steal.
Chitwood said that the boy was mentally evaluated after the first incident and Chitwood doesn’t think the teen is competent enough to go through the juvenile court system.
“He is severely mentally challenged and I don’t believe he belongs in the court system,” Chitwood told the Delaware County Times. “He is a danger to himself and others. He needs to be somewhere where there is some type of security.”
