Bus vandalized in parking lot, perpetrator still unknown

On September 6th, an office bus owned by Academy Bus, LLC was broken into and vandalized in the Metrorail parking lot on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. The violaters have not yet been identified. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
On September 6th, an office bus owned by Academy Bus, LLC was broken into and vandalized in the Metrorail parking lot on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. The violaters have not yet been identified. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor
On Sept. 6, an office bus owned by Academy Bus, LLC was broken into and vandalized in the Metrorail parking lot on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. The violator has not yet been identified. Hallee Meltzer // Photo Editor

An unidentified individual entered, ransacked and vandalized a bus that was parked in the Green Parking Lot under the Metrorail on Ponce de Leon Blvd. in the early hours of Sunday, Sept. 6. The shuttle bus is owned by Academy Bus LLC, a transportation service that the University of Miami uses.

According to a police report from the University of Miami Police Department (UMPD), the bus – which is used as an office – was parked under the Metrorail around 2 a.m. for overnight storage after UM’s first football game.

Between the time it was parked and 4 p.m. Sunday, it was broken into and ransacked. The perpetrator took the keys to another bus from the lock box and used them to enter the second bus.

Bus Surveillance UMPD
Surveillance photo courtesy UMPD

In the second bus (#13009), the perpetrator knocked down a GPS device and security camera. UMPD reviewed video surveillance from the bus and has released a campus community information flyer in hopes of identifying the intruder. UMPD has not confirmed whether or not he is a UM student.

There were no damages to the interior of the office bus, according to the police report. The keys were recovered from the driver’s seat in bus #13009. The virtually harmless nature of the crime led one Academy Bus employee, who has chosen to remain anonymous, to believe it was the result of a prank or drunken misbehavior.

The bus used as an office contained several items of greater value, such as a television and a fax machine. Those, the employee noted, could have been stolen and sold but they were not.

“You can normally tell … They will usually destroy things, they will usually steal things. Nothing was destroyed and nothing was stolen. It was just vandalism,” he said.

According to the employee, the office bus should have been locked overnight. However, the bus is old and could easily have been broken into, even if it was locked.

“That bus is so old, it wouldn’t take much to get that lock unlocked,” he said.

This case is still under investigation by UMPD.