Deputies: 100 Tires Damaged on School Buses

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Flattened tires greeted bus drivers at Mid Carolina Middle School, in Newberry County, Monday morning. Authorities say, someone damaged about one hundred tires on 20 buses over the weekend. Deputies do not know if one person or multiple people are responsible. “We are obtaining the video from cameras at the school, we don’t believe that there’s one directly at the parking lot. But, we do think that there may be some angles that could help us in this investigation,” says Todd Johnson, Chief Deputy, Newberry County Sheriff’s Office. Johnson says they have leads, but they are hoping you, the public, can help. “We do think that someone who would commit this type of crime, would go out and brag to friends or other people that they had committed this crime and about the damage that they had done,” says Johnson Monday afternoon, our cameras were there as investigators arrived back on scene. “Tires by sheer nature are not conducive to finger prints and so you have to go to alternate fingerprinting methods other than just plain black powder and so our deputies are using forensic based technology,” says Johnson While investigators worked to crack the case, maintenance worked to fix the problem. “We got as many running as we possibly can,” says Bennie Bennett, Superintendent for Newberry County School District. Bennett says the crime affected four schools, but it’s not clear at this time how many students were directly affected, though indirectly… “If you count the four schools that were affected, obviously that’s well over 2,000 students,” says Bennett Bennett planned to meet with those schools and the transportation department to determine if any students missed school Monday because of the problem. He also says some routes were doubled Monday afternoon to make sure kids got home safely. The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office urges anyone with information to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-888-CRIME-SC.