A campus bus driver who went out of his way to help a pedestrian get out of the cold earlier this month ended up with a drunken gunman on board and no way to summon help because the bus’ emergency button didn’t work.
The evening of Jan. 12 had been a standard night at work for Joe Everts. The third-year Ohio State student in middle childhood education was driving one passenger on the Campus Loop North route around 9:30 p.m. when he was flagged down by a man near Ohio Stadium.
Everst said although the man was not at a bus stop, he decided to pick him up anyway, despite CABS policy.
“It was dark and cold,” Everts said. “Buses are few and far between at night so under the circumstance I stopped to pick him.”
Once the man — who was stumbling and seemingly drunk — boarded the bus, Everts’ other passenger quickly got off. Then Evert saw what the man was carrying: a gun.
He said his first thought was one of disbelief.
“My first instinct was to think it wasn’t real,” Everts said. “I didn’t want to overreact.”
But he said he kept an eye on the man in his rearview mirror. This agitated the suspect, who began yelling at Everts.
“He said things like ‘What are you looking at?’ and ‘You’re not going to answer?'” Everts said.
Everts said he tried to calm the man down, but that further enraged the man. He began waving the gun at Everts.
“This is when I became nervous,” Everts said. “I stayed calm and tried to keep everything as normal as possible; that’s what we are told to do. I never really freaked out but it got my blood pumping.”
Everts said once he noticed the gun in the man’s hand, he changed the overhead message on the bus to “OUT OF SERVICE” to prevent any other passengers from boarding.
Bus drivers are trained to trigger an emergency button in the event of a dangerous situation, which changes the message to “EMERGENCY CALL 9-1-1,” said Steve Basinger, assistant director of Transportation and Parking Services.
But Everts said his emergency button was not working properly. All CABS buses have been inspected since and all triggers are now working properly.
Evert continued to drive the man on the regular route. When they arrived at the stop near 17th Avenue and College Road, the man screamed that he needed to be let off the bus. Everts complied.
He watched as the man ran toward The Oval, and he called the police.
The suspect is described as a black male in his 20s. He was wearing a red coat, a blue hat and faded blue jeans. He was carrying a black bag and a silver pistol, according to the police report.
