Parents are raising serous concerns after two underage girls wanted for armed robbery boarded a Rio Grande High Shool bus in Albuquerque’s South Valley and entered the campus, resulting in a lockdown, reported KOAT 7.
The incident occurred May 15, when the unidentified girls managed to board the school bus, entered the high school campus, and hid in a second-floor bathroom stall before being discovered by staff and escorted out.
According to the news report, the girls fled on foot but were quickly apprehended by Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies, who confirmed that both girls had outstanding warrants for armed robbery and were facing additional charges from Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) police.
A letter sent to parents explained the timeline of events and how students had reported seeing to “suspicious females” on campus. This report prompted staff to initiate a “shelter in place” protocol, securing classrooms while searching the building.
Parents told local news reporters that they wondered how the girls managed to get on the school undetected. APS told reporters that the incident should not have happened. Additionally, the school districtc stated that school bus drivers are required to contact dispatch via radio when hey encounter an unfamiliar student, to verify the child’s name, address, school and other relevant details. It is unclear if the driver of the bus involved in the incident is facing any consequences for not following protocol.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said suspects are expected to face new charges in addition to their other warrants. As questions are left unanswered, parents demand more transparency from APS and its transportation providers.
Two years ago, 5-year-old A.M., a child with autism, became the victim of bullying on the school bus he rode to elementary school in the Poudre School District of Fort Collins, Colorado. The perpetrator of A.M.’s abuse was not a fellow student, but a school bus attendant the district had hired to provide students like him with extra support.
Not only was A.M., whose full name is withheld in court documents, restrained in a school bus seat throughout the months-long abuse, his disability rendered him nonverbal, leaving him unable to ask for help or tell his parents what was happening.
The school board agreed to pay out $16.2 million on May 14 to settle a lawsuit filed by parents of A.M. and other students with disabilities who were abused by Tyler Zanella while being transported to and from school during the 2022-2023 school year.
Comparatively, the settlement is about 15 percent of the district’s $10.3 million transportation services budget for this past school year.
After voting to accept the settlement, Poudre school board president Kristen Draper said she hoped the amount would help foster healing and rebuild trust.
“This resolution represents our collective commitment to addressing the harm caused and to supporting the ongoing recovery and well-being of these students and their families,” Draper said.
A.M. was not Zanella’s only victim. In all, county prosecutors say the attendant abused 10 students that school year.
The district uncovered Zanella’s criminal history and a previous child abuse conviction during a background check before he was hired in August 2022. A.M.’s parents also voiced concern about the attendant throughout the school year, but their words did not prompt change until a teacher stepped in.
When A.M. came to class with red marks on his face, a teacher asked questions, prompting the school district to review camera footage and report the abuse to police.
Internal bus camera footage documented Zanella swearing at A.M., calling him names, and subjecting him to physical abuse, slapping, pinching, and pushing the restrained child dozens of times over several months. According to court documents, Zanella called A.M. a f—–,” “little sh–,” and said, “if A.M. were his kid, he would be dead by now because Mr. Zanella did not have that kind of patience.”
Zanella, 36, ultimately pleaded guilty to seven counts of assault on an at-risk person, as well as harassment, and child abuse. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in April 2024.
He also had a previous misdemeanor child abuse conviction when he applied for the position at Poudre School District. Title 22 of the Colorado Revised Statutes lists felony child abuse as cause for termination or withholding employment.
David Lane, A.M.’s attorney, said in an email he was shocked that Zanella had been hired after school officials learned of his criminal history and that he had lied about it.
“It is utterly incomprehensible how a school district could allow a convicted child abuser to have access to utterly helpless children in this situation,” Lane wrote. “Ultimately, this governmental failure will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and these innocent children have been severely damaged.”
Following the incident, the district spent $2 million on internal policies, which included hiring consultants at the Center for Effective School Operations, or CESO, to review the district’s policies. Among primary recommendations, CESO suggested the district develop procedures for camera footage requests and supervisor audits.
In a school board presentation on the transportation review findings last summer, Chief Operations Officer Jeff Connell reflected on how school bus driver shortages led to mechanics and supervisors driving buses, and many employees taking shortcuts.
Connell said the district was hiring an integration services transportation manager dedicated to coordinating support for students with disabilities as well as a second operations manager. Per the CESO recommendation, Connell said both managers would oversee north and south terminals to maintain a consistent culture across both locations. Connell said he hoped to cover the budget for the positions by increasing route efficiencies.
The school district previously maintained three days of video footage from each camera. Supervisors are now required to review at least one hour of footage each week, “with an emphasis on routes that have new staff and routes that serve students with special needs – particularly students who are pre- or non-verbal.”
Moving forward, the district promised to update cameras on all school buses—a $1.9 million cost paid for with bonds. The district hired transportation service provider Zum to install four internal cameras on each school bus, including a driver-facing camera with a built-in coaching system.
“There’s a lot of hours of video to go through between ride-alongs, reviewing the video, following up on incidences and also having the driver-coaching camera, we’re going to have a lot of information available to us that we’ve never had before,” Connell said.
Draper described the incident as a painful chapter in the school district’s history but added that she hoped it would prove to be a “catalyst for important and necessary improvements.”
A former Susquenita School District bus driver in Pennsylvania is facing charges after being accused of allegedly inappropriately touching elementary age students on the school bus for over six months, reported ABC 27.
John Joseph Straining, 50, was reportedly arrested by State Police at New Port and is facing 25 felony charges, including three counts each of felony institutional sexual assault, indecent assault of a minor under 13 and unlawful contact with a minor, among others.
According to the news report, two Susquenita Elementary School students reported that Straining, known to them as “Mr. John,” would tickle juvenile girls on the school bus despite being told to stop.
Upon investigation, police learned that Straining tickled multiple male and female third and fourth grade students, including tickling girls’ chests and thighs.
Police said surveillance video on the school bus showed these interactions occurring between last October and April of this year.
Rohrer Bus Company, the contractor Suquenita uses for transportation, reportedly fired Straining April 14.
When he leaves the office at the end of the week, James Hutchinson, captain of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Homicide Unit, can’t wait for Monday so he can get back to work solving murders.
“I could have retired six months ago,” he said. “But I know that the work we do really makes an impact on people’s lives.”
That work doesn’t always go as planned. Last year Milwaukee homicide detectives cleared 78% of the 132 murder cases they investigated — the highest rate in years. From 2020 to 2023, when murder rates soared during the pandemic, clearance rates fluctuated between 50% and 59%, leaving many families without closure.
For those awaiting justice, Hutchinson said he wants them to know that his team of 33 investigators remains committed to solving their case.
“From the first two weeks to a month, or months or years down the line, we’re equally as committed to solving a murder as we were today.”
That work begins as soon as a homicide is reported, he said.
Homicide investigations in Milwaukee
Typically, said Hutchinson, uniformed officers are the first to arrive on the scene. They work to establish an incident command area, set parameters using police tape, control crowds and prevent any disruption of evidence.
Patrol officers are also the first to seek out witnesses and spot cameras.
Detectives are not far behind. As soon as a homicide is reported, Hutchinson said, a team of detectives and supervisors will immediately head to the scene and start their investigation.
Once they arrive, they assemble the information that’s already been collected, gather more clues, find additional witnesses and hopefully identify suspects. Investigations take place in homes, city streets and hospitals or even at the medical examiner’s office.
Critical, Hutchinson said, is the early stages of that investigation.
“Those first moments, those first hours, those first minutes are very important. Evidence starts to disappear. People go to different places. It could be as simple as video evidence being recorded over. We focus and attack an investigation very fast, very intensively,” he said.
When homicides happen in bunches, as was often the case during the pandemic, resources are pulled from other units to help.
Friends and family of Nelson Manuel Lopez Correa, a 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed on Milwaukee’s South Side, created a memorial in his honor. (Edgar Mendez / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
The team approach
Hutchinson said MPD investigates homicides differently from any other large city in America, using a team approach rather than dedicating detectives to specific cases. Homicide investigators working that shift will begin the investigation and then debrief the next shift before handing off the case.
“They brief the incoming shift on what occurred, what was accomplished and what still needs to be done,” Hutchinson said. “That cycle continues until we run out of things we need to do right now.”
Utilizing this method allows for a continuous investigation, but it also creates some problems, acknowledges Hutchinson.
“Because there is this team concept, you have a potential for having not as much accountability per person,” he said.
He said his division works to alleviate that problem by relying on sergeants and others, including himself, to oversee investigations and follow-ups.
Communication challenges
Another issue with not dedicating specific investigators to specific cases is communication.
“We love to get information, but we are not good at checking back in with the family and letting them know we haven’t forgotten,” he said. “We acknowledge that we have room for improvement.”
Not receiving regular updates from homicide investigators is a common complaint among family members of victims, especially those whose cases remain unsolved.
Brenda Hines, whose son Donovan was murdered in 2017, tracked down officers in person when they wouldn’t respond to her calls.
“It’s a bad process,” she said.
She founded the Donovan Hines Foundation in honor of her son and to help other families by providing grief support, mental health and other resources to residents.
Hines said she believes police can still solve her son’s murder if anything should come up.
“They just don’t have enough evidence yet,” she said.
Janice Gorden, who created Victims of Milwaukee Violence to help families access funeral support and other services, said she believes police are doing what they can to solve homicides and work with families.
But families, she said, will not be satisfied until they have answers. Often it gets to the point where they become focused on investigating the case themselves.
“They have way more information than sometimes the detectives do,” Gorden said. “They drive themselves crazy trying to find answers to who killed their loved one.”
Both Hines and Gorden have worked with mothers to arrange meetings with police and the district attorney’s office to get information about homicide cases.
Hutchinson said two new victim support positions were created recently to help improve communication with families.
Notifying the family
Hutchinson worked his way up the ranks of MPD, first as a patrol officer, then gang squad, detective, robbery and vice squad, and as a homicide detective from 2008 to 2020.
James Hutchinson became captain of MPD’s Homicide Division in 2020. (Edgar Mendez / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Before becoming captain, he has often taken on the grim task of letting a family member know a loved one was killed.
“Making a death notification is one of the hardest parts of this job. It’s incredibly heartbreaking,” he said. “The range of reactions, you can’t even anticipate. There are completely stoic people that accept what you’re telling them, to some incredibly violent reactions.”
A much better feeling, he said, is when they are able to notify a family that an arrest has been made. But even that’s a struggle.
From investigation to charges
Although police might make an arrest in a homicide case, that doesn’t mean that charges will be filed.
Police, Hutchinson said, only need probable cause to make an arrest. The burden of proof at the district attorney’s office, which files homicide charges, is higher.
“The DA’s office has to be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “Many times we will make an arrest for probable cause, but we can’t get to that level.”
What often happens, Hutchinson said, is that officers will bring a case to the DA’s office or discuss what evidence they have and then talk about whether more is needed to file charges.
While that does bring some frustration, admits Hutchinson, it’s better than arresting the wrong person.
“My worst nightmare I would have in the world is to have the wrong person held accountable for a crime,” he said.
Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern acknowledges that the work to hold someone accountable for murder can be burdensome on families seeking justice.
“Obviously, there is a significant gap between the evidence needed to make an arrest versus the evidence needed to successfully prosecute a case,” Lovern said.
The reason for caution and continued dialogue with officers in hopes of building a strong case is because there’s no room for error.
“We really have one opportunity with a particular suspect to bring forward charges and we want to get it right. Not only for the person charged, but the victim’s family and the integrity of the system,” he said.
‘We never forget about the victims’
Depending on the time of year and other circumstances, homicide investigation units can get extremely busy, Hutchinson said. Even when pulling resources from other units, it can still impact the amount of time investigators have for each case.
On the flip side, he said, sometimes they’ve hit the point where they don’t have anything left to do at the moment. But, he said, he wants families to know that victims are more than just a name to them.
“They are someone’s family member or friend, and the day they died is probably the worst day of many people’s lives,” he said.
Whether it’s been days, months or years, he wants family members to know his unit remains committed to solving their murder.
“Everyone can be assured that we never forget about the victims,” he said. “There is no replacement for their loved one, but it feels great to be able to notify the family that we have made an arrest.”
How you can help
Anyone with information on homicides is asked to contact Milwaukee police at 414-935-7360, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414- 224-TIPS.
A student transportation driver in Harrisburg will serve nearly eight years in prison after pleading guilty to driving a school vehicle under the influence of prescription drugs last year, reported FOX 43.
Heather Shumberger, 41, pleaded guilty in January to four counts of recklessly endangering another person, two counts of endangering the welfare of children, two counts of DUI, and a summary traffic offense.
Shumberger was reportedly sentenced to a prison term of four months to just under eight years last week. Once her prison terms end, she will also serve a period of probation.
The incident reportedly occurred on Oct. 30, 2023, when police officers pulled over Shumberger after receiving multiple calls from other motorists concerned with her erratic driving.
According to the article, Shumberger was driving a school van, traveling well under the posted speed limit of 65 mph, and swerving in and out of traffic lanes.
Responding officers said Shumberger’s van was located and pulled over. She began to doze off while interacting with officers and was unable to perform the field sobriety test.
Four students ages 9 to 19-years-old were inside the van at the time of the incident. The students showed police a video that showed Shumberger swerving while driving.
Police also reportedly watched outward- and inward-facing dash camera footage from the school vehicle that provided additional evidence of her erratic driving. Another driver was assigned to pick up the students and safely transport them to their destination.
The news report states that blood test later showed that Shumberger had Xanax, Klonopin, Pristiq, Soma, Zyprexa, Effexor and Buprenorphine in her system at the time of her arrest.
A Georgia school bus driver and seven students have been charged in relation to a violent attack of a 7-year-old student during a bus ride, reported WTOC.
According to the news report, a William James Middle School resource officer in Bulloch County received a report April 23 of an attack on the child during the morning bus route of April 18. Following the report, a criminal investigation into the incident was initiated.
Details from the investigation revealed that seven students ages 5 to 14 physically attacked a 7-year-old child during the bus ride to Mattie Lively Elementary School.
Capt. Todd Hutchens with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office told local news reporters that one used his feet to stomp on the 7-year-old. Authorities said the nature of the attack was very violent, which led them to be very concerned for the safety of the 7-year-old as well as other children on the bus.
According to the article, the school nurse said the 7-year-old had multiple injuries, including heavy bruising. Video footage from the bus reportedly shows the seven students involved in the attack. Since then, all the students have been identified, suspended from school and charged with battery.
The bus driver, 70-year-old Joey Edwin Jackson, was also charged following the investigation. He faces charges of cruelty to children in the second degree and failure to report child abuse.
Hutches said via the article that Jackson did not pull over, did not call the bus garage to report an incident, and did not ask for help. Instead, he continued driving to the school. Jackson was fired for failing to follow mandatory reporter protocol. He had been employed by the district since October 2023.
A 15-year-old boy was accused of raping a 7-year-old boy on a Jennings County school bus, reported WTHR News.
The alleged incident reportedly occurred April 16 on a school bus for students with disabilities. The Jennings County Juvenile Probation Department is overseeing the investigation.
According to the article, the incident was detected in bus security footage and Jennings County School Corporation is now reviewing other security videos from the entire school year to determine if there were other similar incidents.
The news report states that the 15-year-old, who was not identified at this writing, was taken into custody April 17 and had his initial hearing April 22, where prosecutors filed the rape charge.
The teen reportedly has another court hearing this week and is currently being held at the juvenile detention center.
Local news reports confirmed that the family of the 7-year-old is preparing to sue the school district, claiming “grossly negligent” actions resulted in permanent injury to the boy and violated his civil rights.
The family’s attorneys reportedly say that the 7-year-old was “helplessly left unmonitored by two school employees who were on the bus and charged with caring for his safety.”
A Snowden Elementary School student in Beaufort County, North Carolina, is in custody for bringing a handgun on a school bus, reported WITN News.
The incident reportedly occurred April 14, when the district’s school resource officer received a complaint from a school administrator that an elementary school student may have possessed a handgun on a school bus.
According to the news report, a witness said they allegedly saw the student, whose identity was not released at this writing, pull the gun from a bookbag then toss the gun out of the bus window.
The resource officer notified the criminal investigation division of what allegedly occurred and investigators began to look into it.
Officers went to the school and, with the help of the school administrator, interviewed witness and reviewed video footage from the bus cameras. As a result, the gun was recovered by investigators, who then served the student with a petition and secured custody order on April 15.
A man in Greenville, South Carolina was arrested and charged with arson after allegedly damaging several school buses.
The Greenville Police Department released a statement Monday confirming the arrest of a man who set fire to and vandalized some Legacy Charter School buses early Saturday morning.
Authorities say Greenville police officers and firefighters responded to a 911 call. Upon arrival, the first responders discovered two school buses fully engulfed in flames and numerous others damaged, totaling approximately $400,000 in losses.
According to police, the fire was quickly determined to be arson, and detectives immediately began searching the premises for surveillance footage. With the help of the school resource officer, a suspect image was obtained, which led officers to a nearby gas station, where a clearer photo of the suspect was discovered.
Authorities were reportedly able to identify and locate the suspect, who was not named at this writing, and a search warrant was executed at his residence. It is unclear what the suspect’s motives were.
He was taken into custody and charged with four counts of arson and four counts of auto-breaking.
A Calhoun County Schools bus driver who was accused of DUI after being involved in a rollover crash accepted a guilty plea agreement, reported WSAZ 3.
The incident reportedly occurred March 4 at approximately 6 p.m., when 54-year-old Jeffrey Brannon was transporting 19 students on Route 16. He ran off the road and struck a culvert, causing the school bus to tip over.
The article states that students on board the bus ranged in ages from 11 to 18. Three students suffered serious injuries. Two of the victims were air lifted from the scene, but their injuries were not considered to be life-threatening. Their current condition is unclear at this time. All other students were taken to local hospitals, where they were treated and released.
Brannon was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and child neglect. A preliminary breath test at the scene showed he had .161 percent blood alcohol level, which is four times the legal limit for a commercial driver. Brannon’s bond was set at $250,000 and the first preliminary hearing was held March 14.
Calhoun County Schools Superintendent Michael Fitzwater told local media that all applicable laws will be followed and that Brannon will never operate another school bus.
In the Citrus Court of Calhoun County, Brannon entered a guilty plea April 10 to three counts of DUI causing serious bodily injury and 16 counts of child neglect, creating risk of serious bodily injury.
A Ridgeview School District bus driver in McLean County, Illinois, is facing charges for allegedly grabbing an 11-year-old student and leaving red marks on the back of his neck and arms, reported 25 News.
The bus driver, identified as 64-year-old Joseph C. Zimmerman, is facing one felony count of aggravated battery to a child than 13 and two misdemeanor battery counts.
According to the news report, police saw a video showing Zimmerman grabbing the boy by the back of the neck. Zimmerman admitted grabbing the boy’s arm but said he does not remember grabbing the child’s neck.
Zimmerman reportedly grabbed the boy for kicking a ball out of the bus. He told police that students are not allowed to have balls in the bus and this particular ball did not belong to the boy.
The article states that a judge released Zimmerman on the condition that he does not have contact outside his house with anyone under 18-years-old. It was unclear if he was fired from his job or suspended pending investigation.
A fourth grader in Maize, Kansas, drove his parent’s pickup truck to school after he missed his school bus, reported KSN News.
According to the article, someone saw the child driving the truck around 8:10 a.m. Wednesday and called the police. Responding officers could not immediately locate the pickup, until someone waved them down and pointed them to Pray-Wood Elementary School.
Police said the child drove the pickup about three miles from his home to the school. Officers added the child parked better than many adults.
Police reportedly did not ticket anyone and allowed the boy’s parents to handle the situation.
North Providence Schools in Rhode Island is adding video cameras to its school buses to catch motorists who drive past stopped buses and run their stop signs, reported WPRI 12.
A school bus driver from the district, Cynthia Sanchez, told local news reporters that she often sees drivers ignore the stop sign on the side of her bus. Sanchez stated that she often radios dispatch to report a vehicle’s license plate number every time someone runs her red light at 30 mph. Yet nothing changes.
According to the news report, school buses from the district have now been equipped with new cameras to hold those drivers accountable for illegal passing.
Police chief Alfredo Ruggiero told local news reporters that the district received the BusPatrol cameras through a grant. The devices can be found all around the bus, from the stop sign to the windshield.
The cameras begin to record when school bus operators open the loading doors and stop recording when doors close.
According to the article, as of April the town is giving motorists a 30-day grace period to comply with the law by mailing a warning letter. Starting May 1, motorists can face fines between $250 and $500. Their driver’s license could also be suspended for 30 days.
A school bus driver in North Pole, Alaska, was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs and possessing firearms.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety released a statement regarding an incident that that occurred March 27, when a North Pole High School bus driver was pulled over for failing to maintain its lane and erratic driving.
According to the statement, the bus driver, identified as 24-year-old Lawrence Dunlap, was arrested on probable cause of being under the influence of drugs while operating a school bus. Officers recovered two firearms from the suspect’s belongings.
Police stated that there were no children present at the time of the stop or arrest.
According to local news reports, Dunlap could not tell the officers how he picked up the school bus and explained that he did not mean to turn onto Badger Road and that he was on his way to pick up students from North Pole High School.
Police said via the statement that any charges reported in the press release are merely allegations and Dunlap is presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty.
A man in Kanawha County was arrested after driving around a school bus that had its stop sign out and nearly striking a student.
The incident took place on March 14 at approximately 3:41 p.m., when Kevin W. Webster illegally passed a stopped school bus and nearly hit a child.
Initially, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office released a statement asking the public’s help in identifying the driver of a white Lincoln sedan that drove past a stopped Kanawha County school bus.
Authorities released another statement thanking the community for their support in the investigation. Ultimately, Webster was identified as the driver of the white Lincoln sedan.
Webster was arrested on March 15, with additional reports from the Saint Albans Police Department further placing him behind the wheel of that vehicle in separate incidents.
According to the statement, police obtained video surveillance showing Webster pulling into a 7-Eleven just moments before the incident, which led to his identification.
Through an interview with Webster, law enforcement officers collected additional evidence that led to an additional charge of driving under the influence (DUI) as a habitual drug user.
In addition to the DUI, Webster was charged with reckless driving, overtaking and passing a school bus, and driving with a suspended license.
Authorities emphasized the importance of stopping for school buses and encouraged the public to contact the department if they had any additional evidence.
Bullets struck a school bus while it was transporting students with special needs in the Bronx, New York, reported ABC 7.
The incident occurred on Friday just before 2:20 p.m. The minibus drove through gunfire and pulled up to an address located about half a mile away from where the shooting took place.
Jose Polanco, a coworker of the school bus driver, told local news reporters that the driver told him he kept driving because his first thought was to get the children somewhere safe.
The bus was reportedly struck at least three times. One bullet struck the back window and two struck the side of the bus. The bus was transporting half a dozen students with special needs. No one inside the bus was injured.
Police said four suspects, all wearing black, were shooting at each other and the school bus got caught in the crossfire.
The shooting took place near a playground, with a school just down the block. The name of the school was not reported, at this writing. Teachers said the shooting sent the school into lockdown, sheltering nervous students and staff in place for about 30 minutes past dismissal.
The suspects fled on foot. One was wearing white stripes and black plants. The investigation is ongoing.
Amanda Davila was sentenced to three years in prison for the death of 6-year-old Fajr Williams, who fatally choked on a Somerset County, New Jersey school bus while wearing an improperly secured safety harness.
Davila faced up to 20 years in prison for the charges of aggravated and reckless manslaughter. Instead, a jury found her guilty of child endangerment on Jan. 13. On March 7, a judge sentenced her to three years in prison.
Davila, who was 27 at the time of the Julu 17, 2023 incident, testified in her own defense during the trial and claimed she was at fault but only partially. The defense argued that a family member of Williams improperly buckled her into her wheelchair that day. Davila also reportedly testified during the trial that she wasn’t trained properly on wheelchair securement and made a mistake. However, the school bus contractor she worked for provided monthly training sessions.
Davila’s lawyer said she shared responsibility with the family, who should have ensured the young girl was secured properly. Davila was the assigned bus monitor to Williams, who had Emanuel syndrome, was non-verbal and in a wheelchair. She was being transported to an extended school year program at Claremont Elementary School in Franklin Park New Jersey.
As School Transportation News reported at the time, Williams was strangled by her wheelchair’s harness on the bus ride. The student reportedly slumped forward in her wheelchair after a series of bumps. She was wearing a 4-point harness that secured her to the wheelchair, but ultimately became too tight around her neck, blocking her airway.
Video from the bus ride showed Davila seated in front of Williams, on her cellphone and wearing earbuds, a violation of policies and procedures.
A middle school student is facing charges after allegedly bringing a weapon onto a school bus in Grady County, Georgia, reported WCTV News.
According to the article, the student, who was not identified in this writing but attends Washington Middle School, is charged with possession of a weapon on school property and making terroristic threats. The district confirmed via Facebook the March 11 incident.
Duke Donaldson, chief of the Grady County School Resource Officers , reportedly assured parents the isolated incident was handled accordingly.
“It’s a zero tolerance for weapons on school property. If you’re making a threat of any sort to any kid, you’re going to be charged according,” he said via the article.
No students or adults were injured in the incident. Along with being charged, the student is also suspended from school.
Two Camden County School District school buses and one car were involved in a crash that left seven injured in North Carolina.
The incident occurred March 7, when a teen motorist was driving a 2013 Hyundai Sonata and traveling westbound on Scotland Road alongside one of the buses. The second bus was traveling eastbound on the same road, according to a statement released by the district.
The teen motorist, who was not identified at this writing, crossed the center line and collided with the eastbound bus, causing the bus to then crash into the westbound bus.
Both bus drivers, the motorist and four children were injured during the crash. They were all transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to local news reports, the teen was charged with failure to maintain lane control.
A Mason County school bus driver was indicted after allegedly driving a bus under the influence of drugs with students on board, reported WOWK News.
The incident reportedly occurred last April, when a 911 call was placed about a school bus driver who was driving erratically and in the opposite lane with students on board. The caller also claimed that the driver made several wrong turns and was falling asleep at the wheel.
A blood analysis the police reportedly took from the bus driver, 54-year-old Leslie Watterson, revealed she had taken three different drugs that affect the central nervous system. Watterson was arrested in May of on warrants filed by West Virginia State Police.
According to the news report, Watterson was indicted March 5 on 54 counts of gross child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury and one count of DUI with minors. The three drugs in her system were identified to be Phentermine, Oxazepam and Temazepam.
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