One of the scariest moments a parent could encounter was captured on video, showing parents in Paulding County, Georgia, desperately pleading with a substitute bus driver who wouldn’t allow the children to join their parents off the bus, causing some children to climb out the windows.
That substitute bus driver has been suspended.
According to WSB-TV, the heated moment happened at the Old Harris Road and Jimmy Lee Smith Parkway bus stop for students at Allgood Elementary on Wednesday afternoon.
One video showed the incident from a distance, with one parent standing in front of the bus at a busy intersection. One child is seen helping a student on the bus escape through the window. A couple of parents approached the window and started assisting other children in climbing out the window.
@sierrapb kids screaming for help in school bus and jumping out of the windows. bus driver wont open door. #pauldingcounty #fyp #whatshappening ♬ original sound – si si ❤️🍒
Other parents began helping by pounding the bus door and telling the driver to “open the f**king door.”
A different video captured the moment up close with a mom encouraging her child to come through the window. The camera panned to reveal a couple of moms already on the bus trying to get their children. The bus driver pushed the moms to remove them, screaming, “Get off the bus.” A mom reacted by slapping the driver.
NEW: Video from Paulding County parent with child on bus – after driver refused to let kids without yellow tags off – appears to show a woman assault the driver before she drove off. Video has been circulating online showing students climbing out windows. More at 6 @ATLNewsFirst pic.twitter.com/Moo8Wngs8D
— Zac Summers (@ZacOnTV) January 19, 2023
The bus driver returned to the driver seat and sped off, frightening the screaming students.
Another video involved a parent opening the emergency back door and some children getting out before a bystander closed the emergency door.
@sierrapb here is the other angle, the kids did open the emergency door but someone closed it #fyp #pauldingcountygeorgia ♬ original sound – si si ❤️🍒
Dallas Police Chief Bill Gorman said that when police arrived, traffic was backed up, a car blocked the bus, and parents were enraged.
According to one parent named Samantha Lee, the incident started with the bus driver refusing to release certain children from the bus without proper backpack identification tags.
Parents are hoping that the investigation of the horrific events causes the driver to face the consequences due to her putting their children in an unsafe predicament.
“That’s so unsafe, and all of the traffic on 278 is rushing by at 60 mph,” one parent stated. “That’s crazy.”
The situation is still under investigation.
