CRANBURY — Cranbury police arrested two Old Bridge juveniles Sunday morning after the pair was discovered taking a joy ride on local roads in a stolen Monroe Township school bus.
Around 4:30 a.m., Monroe police received a panic alarm alert that had been activated from the stolen school bus radio, according to the department’s press release.
Prior to the theft, the bus reportedly had been parked in front of Oak Tree Elementary School, said Detective Robert Bennett, the department’s spokesman.
The keys were inside the vehicle at the time of the theft. Police are unsure whether the bus was locked, he said.
Cranbury police were notified of the missing vehicle and spotted the stolen bus in their jurisdiction, driving down Prospect Plains Road.
Initially, the driver refused to pull over when officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the press release stated.
After about a mile chase, the bus pulled over on Cranbury-South River Road and Cranbury police took the two 15-year-old boys on board into custody, according to Cranbury Police Chief Edward Kahler.
No damages to the bus were reported, the release states.
Cranbury police are charging the minors with receiving stolen property and attempting to elude police. The driver also was ticketed for operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, failure to comply with officers directions, weaving and reckless driving, police said.
Monroe police are charging the two with theft of the bus, which belongs to the Monroe Board of Education, the press release states.
The entire incident was caught on the internal bus camera system.

