Autistic Virginia girl, 9, kicked and dragged off school bus by driver, staffer in disturbing video
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA: A disturbing video obtained by 7 On Your Side has shown a nine-year-old girl with autism being dragged off a school bus by two public school district staff. The incident captured on the video reportedly took place in November 2019 when Deanna Minor declined to leave the bus after it reached Mullen Elementary School in Manassas, Virginia, for an after-school care program.
Deanna, a student of Loch Lomond Elementary, told the bus driver with Prince William County Public Schools she forgot her lunch box sixteen minutes earlier, when the bus left her school. “No, no, no,” the student was heard saying while on-board the bus, to which the driver replied: “Go. Go. Go. Come on.” The child’s mother, Stephanie Minor, told 7 On Your Side that her daughter was “having a sensory episode right on the bus”.
The video then showed the driver seemingly pushing Deanna down the aisle of the bus. “What I can see from the video she is using her knee to the upper back lower neck of my daughter and she is dragging her off the bus,” Stephanie said. The driver then reportedly moved Deanna down the bus’ steps, where an attendant grasped her by arms and dragged her on the ground. “Deanna, get up,” the bus driver said while the girl responded, “No. No.”
According to the child’s mother, she got to know about the incident first from her daughter. Later in the night, the school district informed her. However, when she asked for the video, she was given only two minutes and 35 seconds of the 34 minute-long clip and the district also charged $384 to blur out faces. It has been said that a demand of $8,800 was made by the district for the release of full footage, however when 7 On Your Side intervened, the district asked for $2,500 from Stephanie.
The school district said that “the bus driver used physical intervention to remove” the child, but Stephanie has deemed it as “assault”. The Prince William County Police Department and Child Protective Services have also been notified about the incident, but no charges have been filed yet. The National Autism Association saw the video and its president, Wendy Fournier, said: “I do not think that any child should be handled that way. I don't think they should have been physical involvement with the bus staff. I think they should probably have escalated that to somebody else who is appropriately trained to handle situations like that.”
But Stephanie claimed, “They didn't call dispatch. They didn't go get a principal. They didn't call me." Meanwhile, the school district called the incident an unfortunate one and said all staff members are given special education training. But it declined to give evidence that the two staffers involved had any such training.
Prince William County Public Schools also released a statement addressing the incident. It stated, “The Prince William County School Public Schools has investigated a November 21, 2019 incident involving the removal of a PWCS student from a school bus and has released a video of the event to the student’s parent and attorney. The PWCS security department conducted a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate incident. The Division cannot comment on individual personnel matters."
“PWCS is reviewing its various training programs in order to ensure that all employees adhere to established protocols for responding to such situations and are prepared for the difficult challenges associated with the same," it concluded. Superintendent of Schools Dr Steve Walts, shared he is thankful that no one was injured in the incident, and that the matter was also referred to local law enforcement officials for review.