photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Sherika Carey

A city bus driver on Thursday told a judge how she had been traumatized by the forceful takeover of her bus by a thief last summer.

“Not only my life changed but my whole family’s,” she said at the sentencing hearing for Sherika Carey.

The driver, who was unable to work for a period, is now back driving, but she fights anxiety and depression, she said, and can only drive routes where she knows the regular passengers.

Even then, she said, she is “constantly hyper-vigilant” that something similar to what happened on Sept. 19, 2025, will happen again.

On that day Carey pried open the doors of her parked bus at Central Station on Bob Billings Parkway, forced the driver out of her seat, called her foul names and nearly hit her with the bus as she drove away, according to the driver’s testimony at an earlier hearing.

Carey, 27, was eventually pulled over across town, after fleeing from police, and was removed from the vehicle at gunpoint.

She was initially charged with one count of robbery, one count of felony flee and elude and one count of unlawful request for emergency service assistance. In August she pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of attempted robbery and to felony flee and elude. A separate case of battery and criminal damage was dismissed as part of that deal.

Judge Amy Hanley sentenced Carey on Thursday to 19 months (13 for attempted robbery and 6 for fleeing, to run consecutively), suspended to 24 months of probation, per the plea agreement between the parties.

Hanley noted that under state sentencing guidelines both of Carey’s crimes, given her low criminal history score, fell into presumptive probation categories, leaving her no option “by law” to impose anything harsher.

“I hope you take to heart the comments of [the victim],” Hanley told Carey, emphasizing that “it can be easy to forget” the impact that crime has on real people, and that “taking responsibility” by entering a plea “doesn’t erase the damage that was done.”

Carey did not apologize to the driver Thursday. When Hanley gave her an opportunity to speak, Carey simply said, “I think I’ll decline.”

In addition to the two years of probation with court services, Carey will also be required to pay $420 in various court costs and fees, which, lacking a job, she can work off through community service.

As part of her probation, Carey, who amassed 343 days of jail credit, must obtain a mental health evaluation and follow its recommendations, refrain from alcohol and illegal drugs, take medications as prescribed, and stay away from the bus driver, among other conditions.

Court records indicate that Carey was recently convicted in Shawnee County of harassment by telecom device and stalking, both misdemeanors, and has a string of juvenile offenses in other counties, including battery in Johnson, Saline and Neosho counties.