WASHINGTON — A Virginia charter bus driver is facing a charge of grand larceny after she stole the bus and went on a joy ride, police said.
Prince William County police spokesman Nathan Probus said before 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, 24-year-old Mellat Kassa, an Omni Charter bus driver, went off her normal route and did not pick up any passengers.
GPS from the bus company showed she drove around the Capital Beltway and got onto northbound Interstate 95, Probus said.
Kassa was hired by contractor First Transit to drive the Omni charter bus on a route that goes to Manassas, said Christine Rodrigo with the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, which operates the Omni Bus line.
“We saw that she had not really started the route,” Rodrigo said. “We did also hear from passengers who called our customer service office who said they had not been picked up.”
That’s when the company contacted police.
“The bus company told us that the bus driver had not been answering her phone or radio,”
said Ron Snyder with Maryland State Police.
State police troopers from the JFK Highway barrack took over the chase when Kassa reached the northern portion of the state.
“Troopers attempted to pull her over. And she then accelerated and then began to move in and out of lanes to avoid slower-moving traffic,” Snyder said.
The chase ended at the Tydings Memorial Bridge near the Delaware state line, when Kassa’s bus couldn’t fit through the toll plaza, Snyder said. She was arrested without incident.
No one was injured and there was no damage to any vehicle, he confirms.
Investigators don’t yet know where Kassa was going or why.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Mellat Kassa did not pick up any passengers.
