Alleged school bus thief was on probation for an attack with a chain

This stolen school bus, after hitting seven cars, crashed in the Woodside Plaza parking lot in Redwood City on Saturday morning. Photo by Post reader Doug Coke.

BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer

The Redwood City man who was arrested after allegedly stealing a Sequoia Union High School District bus was on probation for breaking a window at the Second Baptist Church of Redwood City and attacked a 60-year-old man with a chain, a prosecutor said.

Miguel Santos Murillo-Cuellas, 23, had been sentenced to misdemeanor charge in 2018 by Judge Donald Ayoob for the Aug. 10, 2018 incident in which he broke the church window and then attacked a 60-year-old man who was trying to intervene, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

This time, Murillo-Cuellas was arrested on Saturday after he broke into the school district’s bus storage lot at 1090 Mills Way in Redwood City, and after crashing a cart in the lot, stole a school bus, said Wagstaffe.

At 9:45 a.m., Murillo-Cuellas was spotted ramming cars on Woodside Road between Spring Street and Massachusetts Avenue, according to police.

At one point, a South San Francisco police officer who was out for a walk in the area with his wife, nearly stepped into a crosswalk on Woodside Road, but saw the erratic bus, and stepped back onto the sidewalk, said Wagstaffe.

“Someone very well could have died,” Wagstaffe said.

Murillo-Cuellas drove the bus some three miles to Woodside Plaza before smashing into a PG&E transformer.

Murillo-Cuellas appeared in court yesterday and was charged with two felonies and eight misdemeanors, ranging from car theft to driving under the influence of drugs and hit and run, Wagstaffe said.

Murillo-Cuellas remains in jail in lieu of $25,000. He will be back in court on April 8.