A woman accused of driving with a pipe bomb and other weapons sped off from Florida deputies during a traffic stop and slammed into a school bus full of children.
Tonnetta Evans hit a school bus with 41 Pierce Middle School students inside in Tampa on Wednesday, September 23, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The children were ultimately unharmed.
Evans, 54, an “11-time convicted felon” who was allegedly driving a stolen car, is facing more than a dozen charges, the agency said in a news release.
Deputies pulled Evans over on Hillsborough Avenue West in Tampa around 4:36 p.m. on Wednesday, when they found probable cause to search her car as she was being “uncooperative.”
As they tried to remove Evans from the vehicle, she drove off with one deputy partially inside the car, according to the agency.
Immediately afterward, Evans’ car collided with the school bus, which “sustained minor damage,” the sheriff’s office said.
The students were found uninjured and were then taken home in a different bus.
Following the crash, Evans was arrested, according to authorities. A search of the car she had been driving revealed she allegedly had weapons, drugs, and counterfeit money, among other items.
In addition to the pipe bomb, deputies found brass knuckles, a taser, a “bandolier of shotgun shells,” ID cards belonging to three other people, four credit cards that weren’t hers, fake $100 bills, as well as methamphetamine, marijuana and prescription pills, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies also learned Evans’ car was stolen from Kentucky in 2022, the agency said.
“This suspect showed a complete disregard for the safety of our deputy, other motorists and the children of our community, and we are extremely fortunate that no one was seriously hurt,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “Thanks to the quick actions of our deputies, a dangerous career criminal who was driving around with a pipe bomb in her car is now off our streets.”
Evans has been charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, aggravated fleeing to elude, leaving the scene of a crash involving a school bus and a slew of other offenses.
Court records viewed by Us didn’t immediately list an attorney for Evans.
Evans has previously been convicted of nine felonies in Indiana and of two felonies in Kentucky, according to the sheriff’s office. She has a lengthy criminal history in those states.
She “was also arrested on a Kentucky Failure to Appear warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance (Methamphetamine) and Theft of Identity of Another Without Consent,” the agency said.
