LAURENS, SC (FOX Carolina) -
An Upstate high school principal said three students were arrested after they took two school buses for joyrides on Saturday.
Laurens District High School Principal Sonya Bryant said some students were on campus Saturday and decided they would take the buses off campus for a ride.
She said the students had been at school earlier in the day and were involved in some student organizations. She said one of the students had participated in the Gray Court parade while another was waiting to participate in the Laurens parade.
The District 55 transportation director, Geoffrey Stephens, said he saw a bus pulling into the parking lot and realized that no bus should have been out of the lot. He said he found a 14-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl in the bus. The two told him they found the keys in the bus and that they didn't know they should not have been in the buses.
Bryant said the thefts were caught on surveillance, which indicated that three students were involved and two buses were taken for rides. She said the video helped identify the kids.
The boy and girl found on Saturday were arrested by the Laurens County Sheriff's Department, but were released into their parents' custody with cases handed to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Bryant would not release what their punishment will be yet, but the school is treating it as a severe infraction.
She said they are thankful no one was injured. The students were arrested and charged with theft of a motor vehicle, but have not been identified because they are minors, Bryant said.
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The stop sign on the side of a South Carolina school bus. (File/FOX Carolina)
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