A school bus in Washington, D.C. became the unlikely star of a viral TikTok video this week after a police cruiser, lights and sirens blaring, found itself stuck behind it at a red light. The bus didn’t budge, despite dozens of police vehicles racing down a nearby road toward what appeared to be a major incident. Instead, the driver sat calmly at the light, refusing to risk the lives of the children on board by running into heavy cross traffic.
The cruiser ended up trapped, its emergency call seemingly abandoned. To make matters stranger, the officer eventually reset their sirens and appeared to pull the bus over once the light changed, which feels like an ego move from the cop.
Though at first glance it may look like the bus driver was stonewalling a police response, Reddit users were quick to defend the decision. As one commenter bluntly put it: “Yeah, if I’m driving a bus full of children… I’m not running a red light and pulling into a busy intersection. Obviously.”
More than just being a common-sense thing, it’s actually the law. Over on Reddit, where the video was also shared, users explain that school bus drivers in many jurisdictions, including Washington D.C., are barred from turning right on red, and in this particular case, the cross traffic (and even pedestrians) never stopped. As another user noted: “Emergency vehicles have to take the community’s safety into account. Having your lights on doesn’t give you permission to make other cars break the law.”
Some sided with the police, suggesting the driver could have tried to inch forward or maneuver, but the majority backed the bus driver for prioritizing safety. A retired bus driver weighed in with a perspective: “I’m not risking the safety of the students so that he can go. Especially if I see that other cops are already zooming by.”
Others were harsher on the officer, calling the move to pull the bus over “power-tripping” and “pettiness at its finest.” One user summed up the moment with biting sarcasm: “It obviously wasn’t that important if he could pull over the bus driver in retribution instead of continuing to the call.”
To me, the expectation that a bus should break the law and roll into a crowded D.C. intersection for one cruiser simply isn’t realistic.
Still, the optics of an officer abandoning an urgent call just to chase down a bus clearly fuelled debate. As one of the top comments joked: “Bus driver just needs to say ‘give me the ticket.’ Love to see this in court.”
