A Colorado school bus driver is facing 30 child abuse charges for slamming the brakes on purpose to “teach the kids a lesson,” KRDO reported Wednesday.
“The video, obtained by 13 Investigates from inside the bus, shows at least 30 Castle Rock Elementary students’ faces hitting the seats in front of them from the brake check. The incident occurred on March 1, 2023, when the Castle Rock Elementary School students were riding the bus home,” according to the report.
A substitute school bus driver is facing child abuse charges he was seen in surveillance footage intentionally slamming on brakes. @RhiannonAlly reports. pic.twitter.com/pBknkM2ACU
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 21, 2023
The driver, 61-year-old Brian Fitzgerald, reportedly told Douglas County School District officials he was sorry for intentionally slamming the brakes, but noted he was trying to “educate” and “control the students,” according to the report. The students riding the bus ranged from kindergarteners to 6th-graders.
Video from bus shows one of the students calling her parents after the incident.
“Um, the bus driver hit the brakes, and somebody got hurt so badly and is like bleeding on the cheek. We tell the bus driver, but he no care,” she told her parents.
When Fitzgerald dropped her off, she started crying, and the driver explained to the adult who picked her up that the children were “not listening.”
“I said they need to be in their seat,” the driver explained to the parent. “I was coming to a stop and I hit the brakes hard because they weren’t. They were not listening. So, I’m sorry if she got hurt.”
WATCH: Children Evade Car by Inches After Driver Fails to Stop for School Bus:
Iredell-Statesville Schools via Storyful
The parent of another child on the bus, Lauren Thomason, told the outlet her son “sprinted all the way home” after the incident.
“My son came tearing the through the door that afternoon,” Thomason said. “He sprinted all the way home. He was out of breath and red-faced and absolutely sobbing and shaking. He was terrified.”
“He had slammed his head into the seat back in front of him. Another buddy had slammed his head into the window. So his neck and his head were hurting,” she continued, adding that she was especially concerned because her son was still recovering from a concussion after slipping on ice a few weeks prior.
Thomason said she called the Douglas County School District Transportation Department and asked officials to pull the video. She said she is preparing for her son to testify if the criminal child abuse case against the driver goes to trial, according to the report.
Fitzgerald was hired as a bus driver for the district in October of last year and had just finished up class less than a week before the incident, according to internal records obtained by the outlet.
“He was ‘not experienced in dealing with difficult students,’ and in the days leading up to the incident, he had only been driving special education students — this was his first time driving a general education bus,” according to the report.
A spokesperson for the Douglas County School District told the outlet that it is “grateful to the parents and the principal who reported this incident, allowing us to take swift action and ensure this driver was never again allowed behind the wheel of a DCSD bus.” Fitzgerald declined to comment, according to the report.
He is facing 30 misdemeanor counts of child abuse, one of which is for child abuse with bodily injuries. His first court appearance is expected to take place in May.
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Raymond Gonzalez via Storyful
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