Police have brought down a number of charges against a woman who drove a “repurposed school bus” and used a blowtorch to drive it. She was accused of leading them on a chase that ended in crashing onto the property of a Catholic high school.
A gas station attendant in Mandeville (about 40 minutes north of New Orleans) called 911 around 6 a.m. Tuesday to report that a woman entered the store with an unlit blowtorch and asked for directions to a nearby Department of Children and Family Services office.
The woman was later identified as Natalie Jade Jarvis, 37, and drove off in an old yellow school bus with a Virginia plate and spray-painted words “SEX TRICKING AWARENESS”. Jarvis, who allegedly refused to pull over when police pulled up near the bus, led them through Covington, Louisiana.
According to a report by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office Jarvis crashed the bus onto the property of St. Scholastica High School, an all-girl Catholic highschool. Jarvis crashed the bus onto the property, causing damage to some fencing and a stop sign. Classes at the school were delayed for several hours. There were no injuries and students were not yet present on campus.
Jarvis, who was the only person on the bus, was quickly arrested and taken from the vehicle with a blowtorch. According to jail records, Jarvis was charged with several crimes including fleeing an Officer, hit and run and reckless operation of a Motor Vehicle, terrorizing and carrying a firearm/waffen by a Student. Her bond was set at $30,000.
Jarvis has a Florida driver’s license, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. Officers believe she has been staying in the bus at a nearby park for approximately a month.
Officers were called to the park last month in connection with a domestic violence case. A man believed to have been living in the bus with Jarvis, was also arrested. The name of the suspect and details about the arrest have not been released.
