Stolen Trailways bus recovered in Spokane Valley

Published On: Oct 22 2012 10:02:53 AM PDT  Updated On: Oct 22 2012 11:27:14 AM PDT

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. - A Trailways bus stolen Monday morning was recovered just about an hour after it was taken.
The bus was taken from the downtown bus and train station on 1st Avenue around 8 a.m. Monday. The driver had left the bus idling with the keys in the ignition when Sam McDonald, 22, got in the bus and drove away.
Authorities alerted the media and a resident in the Ponderosa neighborhood spotted the bus heading northbound on Dishman-Mica Road and called 9-1-1.
McDonald pulled the bus into the Savage Land Pizza parking lot near Dishman Mica and 8th and after about 10 minutes of negotiations left the bus and was taken into custody.
According to deputies McDonald was listed as an involuntary missing person from Sacred Heart Medical Center, where he had been undergoing a mental evaluation.
The bus was recovered in good condition. No one else was in the bus when it was stolen.
McDonald was taken to the Spokane County Jail on a charge of possession of a stolen vehicle