A female school bus driver is accused of choking an Indiana middle school boy who has special needs, WXIN-TV reported.
What are the details?
The driver — 53-year-old Leslie Sea — faces charges of strangulation and battery resulting in bodily injury stemming from the Feb. 1 incident, WTHR-TV reported.
More from WTHR:
According to court documents, police responded to the intersection of Kiskadee Court and Peregrine Boulevard on Indianapolis’ northwest side on a report from Sea that she had been attacked by a student.
At the scene, Sea told police she had attempted to stop a student from getting off the bus at a stop that wasn’t his after a crash forced the bus to reroute. Kea said she grabbed the student from behind to stop him, the student attacked her, and she defended herself, according to the court documents.
A witness on the bus told police that the student was defending himself when attacked by the driver.
But a police officer with Pike Township Metropolitan School District — which is part of Indianapolis — reviewed bus security video, and it showed an argument as well as the student trying to exit the bus before Sea grabbed him and placed her hand on his throat, WTHR said, citing court documents.
The boy’s mother told WXIN, “[T]he bus driver refused to answer the kids’ questions. Like, ‘Why are we turning around?'”
The mother added to the station that her special-needs son became confused and tried to get off the bus at an earlier stop, which police said is when Sea grabbed the student.
“She grabbed him by the neck, pushed him onto the seats,” the mother told WXIN. “Put her hands around his neck and started squeezing and scratching. The other students were trying to pull her off.”
The mother added to the station that that her son “had scratches all up and down his neck.”
District Superintendent Larry Young told WXIN the director of transportation met the bus driver and completed the bus route.
WTHR said Sea was arrested and charged; WXIN said Sea has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Sea’s initial hearing on the charges is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, WTHR reported.
Pike Township bus driver arrested for assaulting, choking middle school student on the busyoutu.be
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