SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A 23-year-old driver was arrested Tuesday after deputies say he fled from a traffic stop, crashed into two vehicles and then struck a school bus carrying 19 children in Sumter County.
The children on the bus were not hurt, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said.
A deputy conducting school-zone traffic enforcement about 7:20 a.m. near The Villages Intermediate Center saw Qahiem Williams allegedly traveling 17 mph over the speed limit on County Road 466 near Tatonka Terrace, according to the sheriff’s office.
When the deputy made a U-turn and activated emergency lights, Williams accelerated and sideswiped two vehicles at a traffic light, investigators said. The crash damaged his vehicle’s axle, and deputies said Williams then collided head-on with Sumter County school bus No. 7818 on County Road 103.
Video released by the sheriff’s office shows a deputy pursuing a man through a nearby Walmart parking area before taking him into custody.
Williams was medically cleared and taken to the Sumter County Detention Center, where he was being held without bond on charges of fleeing and eluding, driving with a suspended license, marijuana possession and leaving the scene of a crash, the sheriff’s office said. Additional charges are possible.
Authorities said Williams also had two outstanding Sumter County warrants involving fleeing and eluding and driving with a suspended license.
“I have zero tolerance when it comes to actions that put our children’s lives in danger,” Sheriff Pat Breeden said in a statement. “This suspect has a history of this type of behavior and our community is safer with him off our streets.”