A Missouri man has been arrested after crazy video shows him driving onto the sidewalk to speed around a stopped school bus picking up children.
The video was posted on Wednesday by the Parkway School District and thanks to social media and tips police were able to track down the driver of the out-of-control car.
‘If kids were coming towards the bus from these houses, it could have been tragic,’ the district said in a Facebook post.
The other car stopped but Matthew McCloskey couldn’t wait for the bus to lift the stop sign
The car drove onto the grass to speed around a stopped school bus picking up children
In the footage, the bus stops on a residential street in Ballwin and extends the red stop sign signaling for other drivers to halt. A black car approaching in the opposite direction comes to a stop.
Police identified the driver as 52-year-old Matthew S. McCloskey and arrested him at his home
Out of nowhere a silver vehicle speeds around the black car onto the sidewalk and zooms around the bus. Someone on the bus is heard saying: ‘Om my God’. Another man tells someone to get his license plate so they can report him.
Police identified the driver as 52-year-old Matthew S. McCloskey. He was arrested at his home on Thursday for leaving the scene of an accident, driving while suspended and violation of a school bus stop sign.
McCloskey told KSDK that he had borrowed the car from a friend to get to an appointment and the brakes failed forcing him to speed around the bus.
‘I think I did a pretty good job of not killing anyone,’ he said.
‘Everyone is acting like I was trying to avoid the stop sign on the bus, but my freaking brakes went out.’
He said he returned to the scene after he got his brakes to work again, but the bus was gone. McCloskey said he didn’t tell police about the faulty brakes because he knew he was already in trouble.
According to the outlet, McCloskey is a registered sex offender and wasn’t allowed to drive. He also has 15 open traffic cases on his record and had a suspended license at the time of the incident.
McCloskey said that he had borrowed the car and the brakes failed and that’s why he couldn’t stop for the bus
McCloskey’s record includes several criminal convictions including attempted robbery and attempted rape.
McCloskey brushed off why he was behind the wheel of a car, telling KSDK: ‘Do you know how many people drive on a suspended license?’
His estranged wife, Peggy Sue, told the outlet that he put people’s lives at risk.
‘I think it’s horrible,’ she said. ‘I think he’s lost his mind.’
McCloskey was released from police custody and the case was forwarded to municipal prosecutors.