Cooper Fleishman reports on the video of a special needs child being burned, screamed at and beaten up on a school bus, and wonders what could have been done to prevent such horrifying abuse.
Originally appeared at HyperVocal
This horrific security video shows two high schoolers ganging up on Cequan Haskins, a 10-year-old with special needs, in a nearly empty school bus. The bullies hold down Haskins, scream racial slurs at him and finally burn him with a cigarette lighter. No one is there to help him; the bus driver, Nancy Davis, tells them to quiet down, but she never intervenes.
Davis was acquitted of child neglect several months ago. The two attackers were found guilty of disorderly conduct, assault and battery.
Cequan’s mother, Roxanne Haskins, held a press conference in Virginia and released the video to the public to hold the bullies accountable and show the nation what schoolchildren go through — and how often their experiences get unreported or ignored.
Who should be held accountable here? Should the driver have gotten off so easily? And what can be done to ensure this never happens again?
I also am a bus driver and would have pulled over at a safe stop and done something. The special needs student should have been sitting close to the driver so that this kind of thing would hopefully been avoided. There were few enough students that they should not have been allowed to sit in close proximity to the SN child. EVERY child deserves our help if at all possible. I am one who believes that a trained attendent or monitor should be on every bus that has a SN student to better insure their safety. Given the size difference… Read more »
As a school bus driver myself, I find that the driver didn’t do her job well. Yes, driving the bus and keeping eyes on the road is important. But so is the safety of every child on the bus. My big question to her: “If you hear noises on the bus that so distracting, why didn’t you pull over and get out of your seat and stop them.” I sure would have. Those boys were up and down, running all over the bus, not staying in their seats, which is a requirement of the bus rules. On my bus, I… Read more »
In fairness, the bus driver is in an impossible situation. She could hardly leave the wheel to come back there and sort it all out. Not to mention that she already has a full time job driving and concentrating on the road.
The only real solution is to have an authority figure (maybe a parent) ride the bus and keep things under control. It’s unreasonable to expect the bus driver or other kids to become a security guard.
Send them to a place to see what the effects of disability can do to a person. Show them the pain n suffering felt, send the message home to them. Maybe they will grow some empathy, especially if they’re made to work at a place (supervised at all times) to help those who are less fortunate.