New Orleans Thug Becomes Katrina Hero

The Times-Picayune devoted Sunday's front page to the story of 20-year-old Jabar Gibson who was kicked out of high school and has been committing felonies ever since. In his own words, Gibson says, "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a lot of times." A prudent observer would have predicted that his future had been pretty well set. But Jabar Gibson's life changed dramatically because of Hurricane Katrina.

Gibson stole a school bus, loaded it with 60 of New Orleans' poorest residents, the youngest a week-old infant and the oldest 59, and drove to Houston. Gibson was the driver of what has become known as "the renegade bus" that was the first to arrive in Houston with Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

From NOLA.com:

Gibson acknowledges he stole the bus, although in what has become Katrina lingo, he "commandeered" it to rescue himself and his neighbors. While the storm's floodwaters ultimately did not advance into Algiers, there was no way of knowing that in the chaotic Tuesday morning after the storm. Water was filling up the east bank, Mayor Ray Nagin was on the radio that afternoon predicting several feet on St. Charles Avenue, and panicked residents crossed the bridge to the West Bank, telling tales of impending doom.

"The police was leaving people behind. I had to pick up people on the bus. The police didn't want to do nothing. We stepped up and did what we had to do," said Gibson, who declined to say more because he since has agreed to a movie deal that prohibits interviews.

So, one day Gibson is a street criminal with a regularly revised rap sheet and, the next day, he's under contract in the movie business. I would guess that there will also probably be a book deal, a television movie, and appearances on daytime and late-night talk shows. Who knows? Gibson may well end up being a motivational speaker.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.