School bus driver, paraprofessional honored for stopping bus intruder in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) — The Poudre School District and Fort Collins Police Services honored two transportation workers on Tuesday for their efforts to stop an intruder who was trying to get onto a school bus full of kids on Sept. 3 .

Destinea Armenta, the bus driver, said she was making a regular stop to let a few kids off the bus across the street from the Murphy Center, a place that helps people experiencing homelessness.

That’s when a man tried to get onto the bus and Armenta yelled at him to get off.

“He wasn’t welcome. I had several students on board who were very frantic,” Armenta said, adding that the man was not violent.

Dory Pickering, a paraprofessional, was also on the bus.

“He had a Bible in his hand, and he said, ‘My children,’ like he was some kind of prophet. Destinea put her hand on his chest and shoved him as far as she could off the bus. He held really tightly to the handrails and shortly after that, a security officer from the Murphy Center came,” Pickering said.

Fort Collins police said the security guard helped get the man off the bus, and then he had a scuffle with the suspect who was later identified as Joshua Korgan.

Korgan was arrested and is facing multiple charges including third-degree assault, second-degree trespassing, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia.

At a ceremony Tuesday, one of the officers who responded to the scene thanked Armenta and Pickering for rising to the occasion and gave them each Challenge Coins .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.