TAMPA — A Hillsborough County traffic stop on Wednesday afternoon turned into a school-bus crash and a pipe-bomb recovery after a woman fled with a deputy still partly inside her car, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies stopped a silver Kia Forte about 4:36 p.m. on Hillsborough Avenue West, just west of Dale Mabry Highway, according to HCSO. During the stop they developed probable cause to search the car and tried to remove the driver and sole occupant, Tonnetta Evans, 54. Evans was uncooperative, the agency said.
As deputies worked to get her out, Evans put the Kia in drive and fled eastbound on Hillsborough Avenue West with a deputy still partially inside the vehicle — conduct HCSO described as aggravated battery on a law-enforcement officer with a deadly weapon.
Moments later, and before deputies could launch a pursuit on that battery, Evans struck a school bus carrying 41 Pierce Middle School students, the bus driver and a bus aide, the sheriff’s office said. No students were hurt. The bus had minor damage. Students were moved to another bus and taken home.
Deputies took Evans into custody at the Howard Avenue and Armenia Avenue ramp to southbound Interstate 275.
What deputies found in the Kia
A search of the vehicle turned up a pipe bomb or explosive device, brass knuckles, a taser, a bandolier of shotgun shells, three identification cards belonging to other people, four credit cards belonging to other people, counterfeit $100 bills totaling $1,100, silver half-dollars and other coins, methamphetamine, marijuana and multiple prescription pills, HCSO said.
Investigators also learned the Kia had been reported stolen out of Kentucky in 2022.
“This suspect showed a complete disregard for the safety of our deputy, other motorists and the children of our community, and we are extremely fortunate that no one was seriously hurt,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “Thanks to the quick actions of our deputies, a dangerous career criminal who was driving around with a pipe bomb in her car is now off our streets.”
Charges and criminal history
HCSO said Evans faces charges including aggravated battery on a law-enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, armed possession of methamphetamine, aggravated fleeing to elude, battery on a law-enforcement officer, felon in possession of ammunition, felon in possession of an electric weapon or device, giving a false name to a law-enforcement officer, possession of cannabis less than 20 grams, possession of drug paraphernalia, three counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, unlawful possession of the personal identification of another (five or more), tampering with physical evidence, attaching a tag not assigned, and leaving the scene of a crash involving a school bus.
She was also held on a Kentucky failure-to-appear warrant for possession of a controlled substance and theft of identity of another without consent, according to HCSO. The agency described Evans as an 11-time convicted felon — nine convictions in Indiana and two in Kentucky — and a three-time Indiana State Prison releasee.
The combination of a stolen out-of-state car, a school-bus strike in afternoon traffic and an explosive device inside the cabin is why Chronister’s office stressed how narrowly the community avoided serious injuries. The bus was still loaded with middle-schoolers heading home when it was hit; the deputy who had been partly inside the Kia was exposed at street level in one of Tampa’s busier westside corridors.
What we know about the scene
HCSO located the stop just west of Dale Mabry on Hillsborough Avenue West — a stretch that feeds shopping, apartment traffic and school routes in the late afternoon. Pierce Middle School sits in the county’s west-central attendance area; a crash involving a loaded district bus triggers both a law-enforcement response and school transportation logistics to get students home on a replacement bus.
Local outlets including WFLA News Channel 8 and Tampa Bay 28 reported the arrest overnight from the sheriff’s office announcement. HCSO said the investigation remains open as detectives continue work on the explosive device, the stolen vehicle and the identification cards and credit cards recovered from the car.
Parents with questions about Wednesday’s bus incident are typically directed through Hillsborough County Public Schools transportation and Pierce Middle’s main office for confirmation that students were accounted for and delivered home. Anyone with video or information about the crash or the fleeing Kia is asked to contact HCSO.