11-Time Convicted Felon Fled Traffic Stop, Crashed Into Bus In Tampa, HCSO Says

TAMPA, FL — An 11-time convicted felon was arrested Wednesday after fleeing a traffic stop while a deputy was partially inside her car and crashing into a school bus carrying 41 middle school students, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Deputies stopped Tonnetta Evans, 54, who was driving a Kia Forte, around 4:30 p.m. on Hillsborough Avenue West, just west of Dale Mabry Highway North.

They developed probable cause to search the car and tried to remove Evans, who was the only occupant, the sheriff’s office said.

Evans allegedly put the car in drive and fled eastbound with a deputy partially inside the car, the agency said.

Shortly after, she struck a school bus carrying students from Pierce Middle School, along with the bus driver and a bus aide, according to HCSO.

No students were injured, and the bus sustained minor damage. The students were transferred to another bus and taken home.

Deputies later arrested Evans near the Howard Avenue and Armenia Avenue ramp to southbound I-275.

A search of the car turned up a suspected pipe bomb or explosive device, brass knuckles, a Taser, shotgun shells, identification cards and credit cards belonging to other people, counterfeit $100 bills, coins, methamphetamine, marijuana, and prescription pills, the sheriff’s office said.

The car was also reported stolen in Kentucky in 2022.

Evans faces more than a dozen charges, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, aggravated fleeing to elude, battery on a law enforcement officer, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, possession of controlled substances, unlawful possession of another person's identification and leaving the scene of a crash involving a school bus.

She has 11 prior felony convictions in Indiana, and Kentucky and had previously been released from Indiana State Prison three times, HCSO said.

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