FIGHTING BACK;Couple Tries to Hijack Bus, Flees in Different Vehicle

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Couple Tries to Hijack Bus, Flees in Different VehicleThursday, October 18, 2001 SALT LAKE CITY - Passengers on a Greyhound bus who wrestled with an attempted hijacker Wednesday night may have averted disaster, Utah Highway Patrol officials said. A man tried to hijack a Denver-bound Greyhound bus on Interstate 80 east of Salt Lake City Wednesday night. The hijack attempt failed, and the suspect and a woman he was traveling with fled in a different vehicle, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. No one was injured. The suspects remained on the loose early Thursday. The man apparently tried to overtake the driver of the bus after ranting about hijackings, said Doug McCleve, spokesman for the highway patrol. The driver was able to safely pull the bus to the shoulder, and the 44 passengers got out unharmed, he said. Bus driver Gene Savage told KUTV television that the man grabbed the steering wheel and said he was going to flip the bus. The driver said he kicked the man away and was able to stop the bus. Several passengers wrestled with the man as the driver was trying to stop the bus, McCleve said. "That's what allowed the bus driver to get it over to the side of the road," he said of the passengers' actions. "It may have saved a real tragedy here." McCleve said it is not clear if the suspect had a weapon, although some of the passengers said the suspect had threatened them with a bomb. The suspect and his accomplice were apparently picked up by someone they knew in the getaway car, McCleve said. That car, a teal-colored Ford Escort with out-of-state license plates, continued eastbound on I-80, McCleve said, but officers had yet to track it down. The incident began around 9 p.m. Officers ran a bomb-sniffing dog through the bus to look for explosives. An initial check turned up no bomb, McCleve said. A Greyhound spokeswoman characterized the suspect as an "unruly passenger," rather than a hijacker. Another bus had been dispatched to take the 44 passengers on their way to Denver, spokeswoman Jamille Bradfield said. The bus originated in Portland, Ore. and was ultimately bound for Nashville, Tenn., she said. It wasn't clear where the suspect boarded the bus. A security agent at the Salt Lake City bus terminal said every passenger who boarded that bus had been screened by a metal detector. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,36764,00.html