Did this school bus driver go too far?

Here's the entire video from the bus cam:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0NvWukOvZs0http://youtube.com/watch?v=0NvWukOvZs0http://youtube.com/watch?v=0NvWukOvZs0

(article)
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4344477&page=1

Gilbert, Ariz., police want a school bus driver charged with assault for getting into a shoving and hair pulling match with three of her teenage student riders — which was taped by a surveillance camera. (more plus bus video at link) Hopefully they show the long video from start to finish.
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Greta had this on her show tonight, and she showed a lengthy portion of the tape. It starts when a teenage girl gets upset that the bus driver keeps pulling off to the side of the road to settle things down in the bus. The girl decides she could walk home faster so she tells the driver she wants off. The driver can't legally do that without parental permission. So the girl calls her mom on her cell phone (which could have been anyone!). After that it seems to turn into a situation where the driver is blocking the girl from leaving, and the girl gets in her face. Eventually, the bus drivers' daughter gets up and pulls the girl off her mom when they are physically struggling.

I thought the bus driver was relatively calm for the most part considering this brat wouldn't stop yelling at her! I don't think the driver should be charged with anything. IMO

Taximom said:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4344477&page=1

Gilbert, Ariz., police want a school bus driver charged with assault for getting into a shoving and hair pulling match with three of her teenage student riders — which was taped by a surveillance camera. (more plus bus video at link) Hopefully they show the long video from start to finish.
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Greta had this on her show tonight, and she showed a lengthy portion of the tape. It starts when a teenage girl gets upset that the bus driver keeps pulling off to the side of the road to settle things down in the bus. The girl decides she could walk home faster so she tells the driver she wants off. The driver can't legally do that without parental permission. So the girl calls her mom on her cell phone (which could have been anyone!). After that it seems to turn into a situation where the driver is blocking the girl from leaving, and the girl gets in her face. Eventually, the bus drivers' daughter gets up and pulls the girl off her mom when they are physically struggling.

I thought the bus driver was relatively calm for the most part considering this brat wouldn't stop yelling at her! I don't think the driver should be charged with anything. IMO

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More thoughts

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60847

I searched for the bus drivers name before posting this!! *argh*

Thanks, JBean.

Taximom said:

I searched for the bus drivers name before posting this!! *argh*

Thanks, JBean.

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personally..I don't think it even matters. Sometimes we miss it on the first go around and then it starts the conversation up again for people that may have missed it.

ETA: I think they all went too far

Nancy Grace has been covering this too. That brat reminded me of my granddaughter at that age! It seemed to me that a lot of the girl's behavior was for attention from the other kids. The more the kids carried on the louder the girl got and the more she swore. She really thought she was hot stuff.

It was said on Nancy's that this started before the brat even got on the bus. She had been disruptive waiting for the bus and a security person had dealt with her then. When she got on the bus she was told to sit in the front of the bus. That was probably to seperate her from the other kids!

I don't think that the teacher was doing anything to her except trying to talk her down at first. The girl kept saying "stop doing this and that" but I think she was doing that for show too. She said something about the driver touching her boob. The driver took her cell phone and threw it under her seat at one point and the girl was then trying to get her cell.
She probably brushed her boob against the teacher while trying to get to her cell.

It was said that there are law suits underway. The girl's name is Samatha Taylor or Tyler I believe. If her parents have the nerve to file suit against this teacher then they are just as bad as she is. Maybe she is a product of her invironment??? She should be kicked off the bus for the rest of the school year...parents drive her to school...plus some good hard restriction. What a big mouth brat!

If the school district fires that bus driver then they should be ashamed. She was doing her job...legally...I hope they don't kiss those parents butts and fire her.

Oh, there goes my scientific (ha) poll. That should have been one of the choices, JBean!

I would not be on tv like the mother of this screaming brat was! My daughter would have been grounded if she acted like that.

You really do have to see the whole video before making a decision, IMO. Greta showed a long portion, and you could tell she was holding back a smile when it was over. I knew what she was thinking! She's probably glad she doesn't have kids! lol

Interview with the teenage girl and her mom:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ReQ8eY1VkTg

The girl standing behind the screaming brat needed to sit her dumb butt down too. I feel sorry for the bus driver I'm sorry but I don't see what she did so wrong? This girl was disruptive and way out of line by the way she was screaming at her and cussing.

This thing occured in my backyard of the world.
In this state, once the gal got out of her seat, she was in vioation of the law. Kids have to stay seated when the bus is moving.
I think the bus driver did the right thing pulling the bus over and stopping. She certainly could not keep on driving.
Watch the girl in the tape closely, especially at the end. She was freaking out big time. You could see this teenager does not stand for having anyone telling her what to do. She was rude, unruly and vicious to the bus driver, the person in charge.
I have a strong feeling this is typical behavior for little Samatha.
JMO

Taximom said:

Interview with the teenage girl and her mom:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ReQ8eY1VkTg

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I can't tolerate this girl or her mother. i'm very glad they're not my neighbours.

She and her mother look like trash to me. :bang:

Man, I'm just proud the daughter at least stuck up for her mom. I feel for this bus driver and honestly if I whooped everyone of them smart mouths act like that I'd be in jail. I've started threads about this sort of behavior with these girls. All pushing in front of ya. They don't dare move out of the way on the sidewalk. She violated the law the little wretch and her mama ought to be thankful the driver didn't kick her tail off and somebody came and snatched her up. Ummm, my answer is no she didn't go too far. LOL

The girl will have these tapes of her circulating the internet forever. always something to think about. like people who make doozys of themselves on myspace.

it will come back to haunt her.

I've got to say... If I witnessed someone getting into my mother's face, shoving her and shouting at her, you'd better believe I'd be right there in the middle of that mess too. I do not blame this bus driver's daughter one bit for trying to get this b*tch away from her mother... IMO, she let that b*tch off easy!

In one article I read, it said that MANY kids on the bus had called their parents, because they were so shocked and nervous about what was happening. This article stated that parents drove to meet the bus, that parents were parked all around the bus and trying to get their kids off that bus.....at least one time during the portion of the tape Greta aired, you can hear someone knocking on the door shouting "Open the door!" And the bus driver refuses to do so.

I'm going to take an unpopular stand. The girl is clearly distraught and pushing the limits. HOWEVER, the bus driver escalates the situation, IMO. For background, it has been said that whenever kids got "unruly" on the bus (loud talking, the girl mentions touching the windows?) the bus driver pulled over and just parked the bus until the kids settled down, and then she drove a little furthur until the next "unruly" incident and pulled over and parked again.....This is no way to handle loud teenagers. It's like forced timeout for EVERYONE on the bus, not just whoever the driver is having a problem with. So when this girl goes nuts and wants off the bus, it's not like it's the first time the driver has ever pulled over. This kid knew that they'd be driven home by lurches and stops and wanted off......I don't think that is an unreasonable response. Ever heard of how airline passengers feel when they are held on planes on the tarmac. They beg to get off too. And some of them have reacted JUST LIKE this teenager.

The bus driver needs to get a clue or two: #1 Pulling over and parking and not allowing anyone to exit (I know she legally can't) COULD be interpreted by inexperienced and anxious teens as being held hostage. #2 You don't grab ANYONE'S private property (the cell phone) and throw it around #3. You don't punish everyone for the sins of a few, and if you do, expect rebellion #4 When a parent knocks on the door of the bus, you'd better fricking open the door!

I also am APPALLED that anyone would be "proud" of the driver's daughter. That was assault. The bratty teenager did not have her hands on the driver, so the daughter wasn't protecting her mom. SHe WAS following mom's discipline pattern, which appears to involve some physicality and rashness. Would you agree that it is rash behavior to grab someone's cell phone and throw it?

The brat and her mom aren't likable people, I agree. But I suspect we'd hear the same unlikableness from driver and daughter.

I would not have opened my door for just anyone knocking on it. How would I know who the person is? The driver was waiting for authorities to arrive. The driver's daughter held back almost 8 minutes until she intervened and it was only when the two got physical with each other.

These kids are old enough to realize that if they behave, the bus will move. Most of them actually were well-behaved until a few minutes into the drama. I was pleased to see that.

Samantha was the one that was out of control and basically causing the bus not to move.

kgeaux said:

I'm going to take an unpopular stand. The girl is clearly distraught and pushing the limits. HOWEVER, the bus driver escalates the situation, IMO. For background, it has been said that whenever kids got "unruly" on the bus (loud talking, the girl mentions touching the windows?) the bus driver pulled over and just parked the bus until the kids settled down, and then she drove a little furthur until the next "unruly" incident and pulled over and parked again.....This is no way to handle loud teenagers. It's like forced timeout for EVERYONE on the bus, not just whoever the driver is having a problem with.

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LOL, you just reminded me of a similar thing that happened when I was a kid. We, the kids, tormented this poor guy. His name was Harold. He was bald. The kids would go “Haaaaaaaroooollld. Haaaaaaaarooooolld”, making a hair grabbing motion because he had no hair (think, “Haaaaaiiiiirrrrold”).

So, one day the kids on the bus are getting riled up so he pulls over the bus. He gets up and starts yelling at us how we need to quiet down and he won’t go until we shut up. Well, we shut up…and the bus starts moving again. That’s when all of the kids erupt in applause. LOL, we must not have rolled 20 feet before he pulled over the bus again. “Stop clapping” So we wait a few more minutes while he yells at us, we all quiet down, and he starts driving again. Well…being the good kids we were, we couldn’t clap, so we all started stamping our feet on the bus floor. LOL, poor Harold, pulled over the bus again and basically just let us all have it. We wasted about 20 minutes of his time being bad kids, so we finally relented.

kgeaux said:

In one article I read, it said that MANY kids on the bus had called their parents, because they were so shocked and nervous about what was happening. This article stated that parents drove to meet the bus, that parents were parked all around the bus and trying to get their kids off that bus.....at least one time during the portion of the tape Greta aired, you can hear someone knocking on the door shouting "Open the door!" And the bus driver refuses to do so.

I'm going to take an unpopular stand. The girl is clearly distraught and pushing the limits. HOWEVER, the bus driver escalates the situation, IMO. For background, it has been said that whenever kids got "unruly" on the bus (loud talking, the girl mentions touching the windows?) the bus driver pulled over and just parked the bus until the kids settled down, and then she drove a little furthur until the next "unruly" incident and pulled over and parked again.....This is no way to handle loud teenagers. It's like forced timeout for EVERYONE on the bus, not just whoever the driver is having a problem with. So when this girl goes nuts and wants off the bus, it's not like it's the first time the driver has ever pulled over. This kid knew that they'd be driven home by lurches and stops and wanted off......I don't think that is an unreasonable response. Ever heard of how airline passengers feel when they are held on planes on the tarmac. They beg to get off too. And some of them have reacted JUST LIKE this teenager.

The bus driver needs to get a clue or two: #1 Pulling over and parking and not allowing anyone to exit (I know she legally can't) COULD be interpreted by inexperienced and anxious teens as being held hostage. #2 You don't grab ANYONE'S private property (the cell phone) and throw it around #3. You don't punish everyone for the sins of a few, and if you do, expect rebellion #4 When a parent knocks on the door of the bus, you'd better fricking open the door!

I also am APPALLED that anyone would be "proud" of the driver's daughter. That was assault. The bratty teenager did not have her hands on the driver, so the daughter wasn't protecting her mom. SHe WAS following mom's discipline pattern, which appears to involve some physicality and rashness. Would you agree that it is rash behavior to grab someone's cell phone and throw it?

The brat and her mom aren't likable people, I agree. But I suspect we'd hear the same unlikableness from driver and daughter.

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When I was in high school my bus driver would do the same thing and pull over and park till the kids settled down. At times we would pull over 4 times a day. Once the kids were so bad the driver took us back to the school.
Yeah, it was annoying, but the kids finally got the message...if you want to get home earlier sit down and BEHAVE!
The bus driver is in charge of many lives on their bus, they're driving a HUGE vehicle....they need to concentrate on driving and it can be hard to do that when the kids are extra loud and acting out.

Our daughter who is a senior has had her bus pulled to the roadside on several occasions. Its normal practice in this county. The kids know this will happen if theres issues on the bus
The alarming part of this is series of events it causes. Middle/High school kids usually arrive home prior to grade school kids. If kept on a bus it leaves little ones arriving home/not being met at a bus stop by these older kids. Should the bus driver have another route to drive following this bus route all those children are stranded at their schools waiting for their bus which is actually sitting on the side of the road some place because of an out of control teen.
Parents are getting worried because their children are not checking in at their usual time. Lots of phone calls and lots of worried parents, dangerous situations for other children arriving home without supervision. Long range of things that could have taken place because one teen caused a problem.