North Carolina driver forces child to run after school bus and laughs as he films Snapchat video, fired
A driver from North Carolina was fired for filming a child running after a school bus. The clip published on Thursday, March 25, on North Carolina news station gathered a lot of steam as people condemned the driver for laughingly filming the child while driving the bus without breaking. The seven-second video was originally shared by the driver himself on Snapchat.
The clip shows a child in a blue jacket and white pants, without a backpack, running towards the door of the bus while the driver continues to laugh and film the scene. According to reports, the video was shared with the news channel by concerned viewers who have questioned the safety of the child.
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A former bus driver Terri Anderson, in response to the clip, told Channel 9, “That’s not acceptable what you just showed to me and it’s very potentially dangerous. That shouldn’t happen because the safety of the kids is very important and I would hate it if that was my daughter.”
“That’s pretty bad because anything could have happened in a split second and there was nothing funny about that. That’s somebody’s child,” she further added. The person who shared the video with the news channel said that the driver in question worked for UpRoar Leadership Academy, a charter school off North Tryon Street off Old Concord Road. When Channel 9 contacted the school, they received the following message, “The conduct displayed on the video has been investigated and is not consistent with the school's expectation. We have taken action to ensure such conduct does not happen again.”
“To ensure the safety of our scholars, our transportation department will participate in safety training and review guidelines set forth by the State of North Carolina. The safety of our scholars is important to us and we are taking the necessary measures to prevent this occurring again,” it further read. In the follow-up mail, the school confirmed that the driver was fired on Tuesday.
Similarly, in January, a bus driver in Kannapolis was fired after a video showed her screaming at the students on the bus. The clip showed her yelling at one point, “I don’t care about none of y’all little kids.” The video was recorded by a 13-year-old student, the son of Julia Jackson. He reportedly called his mother saying the bus got a flat tire and they were on the side of the road. The mother noted, "I heard screaming in the background, and I said, ‘Is that her screaming?’ And I was, like, ‘She should be trying to make y’all calm, so just hang up and record everything.’”
"My son has certain disabilities, ADHD, ODD and bipolar. I said, ‘Well, how are you feeling?’ and he said, 'I’m scared.'” she further added. The school later confirmed the incident and said in a statement, “The behavior of the bus driver shown on the video is very upsetting and not acceptable at all. No one should speak to children like that. We suspended the bus driver the moment we saw the video."