BLAINE — A woman crashed a stolen school bus into a patrol car in Blaine on Friday afternoon, then tried to swim away from police, according to authorities.
The small, yellow school bus was stolen from the Stanwood-Camano Island School District bus barn at around 1:45 p.m., a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office press release said. There were no students on the bus.
At about 3:45 p.m., police received reports of the stolen bus driving on northbound I-5 near Portal Way. Officers spotted the bus at a Blaine gas station at 2nd and D streets, said Blaine Police Chief Mike Haslip.
The fleeing driver rammed the bus into a Blaine patrol car and took off to Marine Drive. There she crashed the bus into a barrier, and it stopped on lawn less than 100 feet from the water.
Katherine McCall, 72, had been driving her Chevy Avalanche on Marine Drive when the bus passed her going about 60 mph, McCall estimated.
After the bus crashed near the 200 block of Marine Drive, she saw the driver get out and run into the water, shouting, “God will save me!”
Police got aboard the Blaine Harbormaster’s boat and chased the woman down as she swam off. She was able to get about 150 to 200 yards out toward White Rock before being captured.
The woman, who had not yet been identified, showed signs of hypothermia. Police believe she is about 54 years old but are unsure where she is from.
After being checked by medics, she was to be arrested on suspicion of felony eluding police and assault on a police officer for ramming the patrol car, Haslip said.
No information was immediately available on why she took the bus or where she had been heading.
The keys were in the bus ignition when police checked it.
The school district is investigating how the woman got the keys. She is not a district bus driver, as all their drivers have been accounted for.
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