Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
A 911 call from a Greyhound bus on the freeway near St. George turned into a SWAT standoff this morning as police feared someone armed with weapons was holding more than 50 people hostage. It turned out to be a hoax, and now one of the passengers is in jail.
In the end, there was never any threat and no hostage situation. But police were led to believe otherwise after dispatchers got a 911 call from a passenger on the bus claiming he overheard other passengers planning to hijack the bus.
James Schafer, with the St. George Police Department, said, "He basically told dispatchers that there were weapons and there was going to be an incident on the bus."
Police say Dustin Holloway, 22, of Marion, Ohio, made that call. He was one of 52 passengers on board the bus which left Los Angeles last night and was on its way to Denver.
When the call came that there were weapons and someone on the bus was planning to hijack it, the bus stopped at a gas station at the south exit in St. George, and police and the SWAT team surrounded it. Schafer said, "In these types of situations we always page out our SWAT team and our crisis negotiation team and any other resources we may have. Until we determine if it is an actual incident or not an incident, we respond accordingly, no matter what it is, until we determine otherwise."
Passengers were then taken off the bus and questioned by police, who determined there was no threat and that the call was nothing but a hoax.
Still, it left some passengers shaken. "I think in any type of situation like that, people are going to be confused," Schafer said. "Everyone seemed very calm. The situation was controlled, and it all worked out good fortunately."
Holloway is in jail on numerous charges including: public intoxication, possession of marijuana, making a threat on a bus, disorderly conduct and making a false police report.
After police interviewed everyone on the bus, it was allowed to continue on, minus the passenger who made the 911 call.
The bus is expected to arrive tonight in Denver, about three hours later than scheduled.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
