Batteries Stolen from Miami-Dade School Buses
School buses broken into at bus depot
32 school buses were missing batteries after a thief broke into a Miami-Dade bus depot.
Over 30 Miami-Dade County school buses were left powerless after a thief ran off with their batteries over the weekend, school board officials said Tuesday.
The buses were broken into as they were parked at the school district's bus depot, located near 4th Street and 70th Avenue, spokesman John Schuster said.
Half of the 32 buses were fixed by the end of the day, but it caused an unexpected delay inthe pick up of students when the break-in was discovered in the morning as bus drivers arrived to work.
Bus drivers said there is a securty gate at the entrance to the depot but no one is ever in it. Schuster said "security is always an issue when things like this happen," and that the district is looking into the matter.
Bus driver Ricardo Valdes said most of the batteries were taken from buses used to transport disabled students and he was worried many students weren't able to get a ride to school. he was sent home because he did not have abus to operate.
Schuster said the district asked for help from outside sources to get to all the students they could, but there were some delays.
He said things should be back to normal Wednesday.
Miami-Dade Schools' Police Department is investigating the incident but declined to comment on the break in.
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