Boy jumps off bus, returned to parents

A mentally disabled student escaped from a school bus Tuesday afternoon near Elgin Boulevard.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office was called shortly before 3 p.m. at the corner of Topaz Street and Fairhaven Avenue when an 11-year-old boy dressed in a blue shirt and blue jeans jumped off the bus and ran into some nearby woods, dispatchers said.

His parents arrived at the scene and the boy was discovered following a search, deputies said.

Sgt. Donna Black, a spokeswoman with the sheriff's office, did not release any details prior to Tuesday's deadline, but she said the bus was not moving when the boy jumped off.

The boy was not identified and Black did not know where he attended school.