CONWAY, Ark. — A Conway mother is fighting for her 15-year-old son's freedom after he was arrested for stealing two school buses and crashing one into a ditch.
On Monday, L'Shelby Price went to go pick up her son Robert from his after-school program at Conway High School, but upon arrival she learned that no one knew where he was.
"I don't see him, and it's been a few hours now, so you know, does anybody have any information? So, by then, they had got in contact with the vice principal and notified her that Robert could not be found," Price recounted.
That's when her son was listed by Conway Police Department as a "missing person."
Shortly after, Price received a call from a deputy saying Robert was found in a ditch in Mayflower inside a crashed school bus.
"I got a call basically telling me that, you know, Robert had been, you know, found on the outskirts of Mayflower. He had driven a bus to Mayflower and had wrecked it around a curve, and the bus was on its side," Price said.
Police later took Robert into custody and is charging him with theft of property and motor vehicle theft where he can be facing some tough consequences.
Consequences that Price wants to avoid, as she said her son is autistic and it can explain why he did what he did.
"His reasoning, you know his understanding is of a seven-year-old, he doesn't understand the same things that a normal 15-year-old would understand,” Price said.
Price said at an early age her son was diagnosed with autism and that he discovered a love for school buses, which she claimed can explain his actions.
"That's not where his thought process lies and it's just a part of his, you know, diagnosis, it's a part of his autism and there's not enough information out about the spectrum,” Price said.
She said he is a good kid who made a terrible mistake and claimed the consequences given are too extreme and calls for other parties to also be held responsible.
"Conway School District should definitely be more responsible for something, whether it's leaving the bus to be so easily accessible or if it's feeding into this type of behavior,” Price said.
The Conway Public school sent a full statement:
Conway Public Schools is aware of an incident that occurred on Monday night involving one of our students. The student thankfully wasn’t harmed and no other students were involved in this incident. As this involves a student, we are limited in the information we can share due to privacy laws. The safety of our students, staff, and community remains our highest priority, and we will continue to take every measure necessary to uphold this standard. We are very thankful no one was injured during this incident.