photo by: Shawnee County

Sherika Naomi Carey

A woman who was accused of stealing a City of Lawrence bus last summer and driving it across town has pleaded no contest to lesser charges and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

The woman, Sherika Carey, was originally charged with robbery, fleeing or attempting to elude police and unlawful request for emergency service assistance for an incident on Sept. 19, 2025, in which she reportedly pried open a bus door, took control from the driver and drove the vehicle across Lawrence. She recently entered a no contest plea to attempted robbery and fleeing or attempting to elude police. The unlawful request charge was dropped, as was a separate case of battery and criminal damage, according to court records. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 15.

As the Journal-World reported, the bus driver said that at the time she was seated in her bus, ignition on, at the Central Station at Bob Billings Parkway and Crestline Drive. She said she was finishing her shift and doing some paperwork before taking the blue transit bus out of service.

As she sat there, she noticed a woman running toward the bus, so she opened the door slightly to tell her the bus was out of service, she said, but the woman — whom she identified in court as Sherika Carey — forced the doors all the way apart and climbed in. The driver said Carey, whom she had never met, was “nice at first” but quickly turned “aggressive,” looming over her with fists clenched and eyes wide, shouting.

“I thought she was going to hurt me,” the driver said. Then Carey lifted her leg to get in the seat, forcing her out of the bus, the driver testified.

The driver grabbed her purse as she was forced out and called 911 on her cellphone. As the bus pulled out it nearly hit her, she said.

A Lawrence Transit employee who works at the front desk of Central Station testified that he saw the bus take off and saw the driver “broken up” and “crying.”

“I was kind of shocked,” he said. The man followed the bus on foot for a ways to see what direction it was headed. He identified Carey in court based on surveillance video he had seen from the bus.

Two police officers testified at the preliminary hearing about the ensuing chase north on Iowa, east on Sixth Street and then north again, eventually to an area near Michigan and West Second streets.

Officer Eric Stockman said that when he saw the bus as he was heading southbound on Iowa, he turned around and flipped on his lights and sirens, but Carey did not stop. He said her top speed throughout was 42 mph, but she clipped multiple curbs, gave a road crew worker a bit of scare and at one point was briefly in oncoming traffic.

Stockman said another officer, Sgt. Amaury Collado, was able to get in front of the bus to force it to stop. Getting Carey out of the bus was “a struggle,” Stockman said, adding that Collado “had her at gunpoint.”

Collado testified that it took two officers to get her out of the bus. He said she was making statements about “Lucifer” and other matters seemingly having to do with religion.

A month after the incident, Carey was declared incompetent to stand trial and was ordered to undergo treatment. Her competency was eventually restored earlier this year.

Carey is also currently facing misdemeanor harassment and stalking charges in Shawnee County and has a string of juvenile offenses in other counties, including battery in Johnson, Saline and Neosho counties.