Jabbor Gibson

by hilzoy (h/t Gary)

Here's the story of a hero:

"Thousands of refugees of Hurricane Katrina were transported to the Astrodome in Houston this week. In an extreme act of looting, one group actually stole a bus to escape ravaged areas in Louisiana.

About 100 people packed into the stolen bus. They were the first to enter the Houston Astrodome, but they weren't exactly welcomed.

The big yellow school bus wasn't expected or approved to pass through the stadium's gates. Randy Nathan, who was on the bus, said they were desperate to get out of town.

"If it werent for him right there," he said, "we'd still be in New Orleans underwater. He got the bus for us."

Eighteen-year-old Jabbor Gibson jumped aboard the bus as it sat abandoned on a street in New Orleans and took control.

"I just took the bus and drove all the way here...seven hours straight,' Gibson admitted. "I hadn't ever drove a bus."

The teen packed it full of complete strangers and drove to Houston. He beat thousands of evacuees slated to arrive there."

He saved about a hundred people who would otherwise still be in New Orleans, waiting for help. However:

"Authorities eventually allowed the renegade passengers inside the dome. But the 18-year-old who ensured their safety could find himself in a world of trouble for stealing the school bus.

"I don't care if I get blamed for it ," Gibson said, "as long as I saved my people.""

I am not normally in favor of theft. But I make an exception for people who take abandoned buses that are about to be flooded in any case, fill them with strangers who have no other way to escape an impending cataclysm, and drive to safety, especially if, as seems likely, they do not intend to keep the bus once they have done so. Jabbor Gibson should be celebrated, not prosecuted.

Comments

[Gary Farber]

I haven't notice anyone noting here that Rehnquist is dead.

[Anderson]

Yes, apparently no one looked in the attic of his New Orleans vacation home until late Saturday night.

[Donald Dresse]

This might be considered an example of privatizing disaster relief.

[liberal japonicus]

Here, Gary. It will be interesting to see not only what the WH does, but if the recent disaster has any of the justices rethinking their philosophical positions. I'm also looking forward to the Supreme Court appeal for Jabbor Gibson on grand theft auto charges. Should be fun.

[Piscator]

Privatizing disaster relief. Are you referring to this? Let's face it. Private corporations, while they might be more efficient in a technical sense, just aren't accountable in the same way that a government agency is, precisely because it is more difficult to regulate them. I have to imagine that this is going to be reckoned as a failure of government, no matter how minimal a conception of the ideal state you have.

I'm actually at least a bit reassured to see so many people that I had thought to be hacks expressing outrage at what's gone on.

I think people also are getting the sense that when something truly bad happens as, say, a consequence of global warming or any of our other irresponsibilities, our government is going to put its hands in its pockets, shrug its shoulders, and say: "Nobody knew!"

[NeoDude]

See, this is what happens when you teach pluralism in the public schools.

[Phil]

I am not normally in favor of theft. But I make an exception for people who take abandoned buses that are about to be flooded in any case . . .

Theft, schmeft. His, or his parent's in any case, taxes bought that bus, and if the mayor wasn't going to mobizile those buses, he had every moral and ethical right to do exactly as he did. That kid should get a medal. I hope someone starts the Jabbor Gibson Scholarship Fund, because I can't wait to send a check.

[james]

Latest on Gibbons

"New Orleans To Prosecute Underage Rescuer For Driving An Ungreased Bus"

Stranger things have happened before.

[M. Scott Eiland]

Any DA who tries to prosecute this kid will be dead politically in Louisiana--he'll get off with a stern lecture from the authorities at worst, and will be lionized by the media and the public once things calm down a bit. Sounds about right.