Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS — An Algiers man hailed by some as a hero for commandeering a school bus the day after Hurricane Katrina to take 60 stranded residents to safety in Houston has been arrested on drug charges where his bus journey began: the Fischer public housing complex. Jabar Gibson, 20, who garnered a movie deal and national attention as the renegade bus driver, was booked Friday with possession with intent to distribute heroin after police stopped his rental car for allegedly driving erratically, New Orleans police said. Gibson and another man, Gary Burnett, were traveling near the public housing complex...

To some he is a thug, but to the 60 people on the school bus he commandeered as Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters rose, Jabar Gibson is nothing short of a hero. HOUSTON -- Across the street from the Astrodome, in the alcove of a motel where the night manager sits behind bulletproof glass, a young man leaned against a faded stucco wall. A grin crept beneath his wispy mustache when a stranger approached. "Do you know who I am?" he asked. His name is Jabar Gibson. The first bus to arrive in Houston loaded with Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans...

"When he arrived at the Astrodome about 10 p.m. Wednesday, 20-year-old Jabbar Gibson modestly confessed that he had commandeered a school bus in New Orleans, then picked up about 70 passengers before heading out for the 13-hour trek to Houston." <!-- DIV.b2 { margin: .75em 0px; } --> Jabbar Gibson rescues NO citizens on 8-31-05 New Orleans school buses: New Orleans public transit buses: Count 'em and weep...

Jabbar Gibson's first time behind the wheel of a school bus was spent transporting dozens of people from New Orleans to the Reliant Astrodome. School bus comandeered by renegade refugees first to arrive at Astrodome By SALATHEIA BRYANT and CYNTHIA LEONOR GARZA Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle The first busload of New Orleans refugees to reach the Reliant Astrodome overnight was a group of people who commandeered a school bus in the city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and drove to Houston looking for shelter. Jabbar Gibson, 20, said police in New Orleans told him and others to take the school...

Several school buses were stolen from Orleans Parish, loaded with storm victims and driven out of New Orleans toward Houston in desperate acts to leave the ravaged city, according to reports. Three school buses were stopped Thursday night in Port Allen, La., just west of Baton Rouge after they were stolen, according to WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge. The evacuees were placed on other buses and transferred to shelters in Texas. An 18-year-old also decided to take matters into his own hands and stole an abandoned city school bus and drove storm victims to Texas, according to a CNN report. The...