St. George police have arrested an Ohio man accused of calling 911 to report a hijacking and hostage situation on a bus.
Police received a 911 call about 4 a.m. Friday from a man aboard a Greyhound bus traveling I-15 from Los Angeles bound for Denver. The man told emergency dispatchers he heard other passengers talking about hijacking the bus.
"He was saying there are people who have weapons, are going to hurt me and other people," Sgt. James Van Fleet told the Deseret News. "We responded as if it were a hostage situation on a hijacked bus."
When the bus stopped at a Flying J travel center just outside St. George, officers responded en masse, even calling out the SWAT team. But police didn't see any sign of a hostage drama or a hijacking.
The man who made the call walked off the bus and pointed an officer toward several people he said were plotting the hijacking. Police questioned the 52 passengers on board individually.
"We can't corroborate the story," Van Fleet said at the scene Friday.
After detaining several people, St. George Police Capt. Bruce Graham said they ultimately arrested the man who made the call — Dustin Holloway, 22, of Marion, Ohio.
Holloway was booked into the Purgatory Jail on investigation of making a false alarm, drug possession, public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Graham said they are unsure of the motive.
"He's sticking to his story and saying he saw what he saw," he told the Deseret News. "We don't know if there's some underlying problem."
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com