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Employee halts thief from stealing Osceola County school bus, deputies say

School district says no students were on board

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – An Osceola County schools employee stopped a man from driving off in a school bus parked at a gas station on Monday, video released by the district shows.

The school district said the bus was parked at a RaceTrac after dropping off students when the driver left to use the restroom. Another employee, an assistant driver, was cleaning the bus when a man jumped into the bus.

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“I said, ‘This cannot be my driver’ because she doesn’t have so much power like that,” the employee said in the video, describing the man’s force.

Video shows the man sit in the driver’s seat and pull a handle to shift the vehicle when the employee runs toward the front and hits the air brake switch that does not let him start the bus.

As soon as the employee is able to run from the bus, Osceola County deputies run to the doors and the man then puts his hands up.

The man was identified as Kenal Bryan, 22.

According to a charging affidavit, Bryan told deputies he got on the bus in an attempt to get away from law enforcement. The sheriff’s office said they spotted him after receiving a complaint about a person acting suspiciously and “he was alleged to be touching people without their consent while in a local business.”

He faces several charges, including grand theft auto and burglary while armed.

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