School bus driver who refused to let children off, beaten by parents

An elementary school bus driver Georgia was beaten by a parent after he allegedly forced students to stay on the bus, prompting some children to climb out of bus windows at a notoriously busy intersection, viral videos show.

The Paulding County School District school bus driver confirmed that the school bus driver has since been suspended while police continue to investigate an altercation between the substitute driver and the parents WSB TV.

The driver refused to let the students off the bus and asked the students to climb out of the bus windows

The fight reportedly took place Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Old Harris Road and Jimmy Lee Smith Parkway, where there is a bus stop for Allgood Elementary students.

Several viral TikTok videos show some parents telling their children how to climb out the window, with one parent seen banging on the door to get the bus driver to open it.

Apparently she requested ID from the parents and some didn’t have it, so she didn’t let go of the kids. She then decided to take the kids back to school afterwards. Some parents decided to follow her, stopping the bus and getting their kids out of bed themselves pic.twitter.com/dyM1Zzm9gU

— Ichigo Niggasake (@SomaKazima) January 20, 2023

A separate video from WSB-TV shows another parent punching the bus driver in the face, who then sits down and shuts the door before driving off with children in tow.

Additional footage of the incident shows children sticking their heads out of bus windows as they are heard screaming for help.

The deputy school bus driver refused to hand the children over to their parents, citing the ID requirement at the drop-off

Paulding County Schools officials told the outlet that the bus’s regular driver had called in sick that day, which explains the presence of a backup driver.

The district said its drop-off process, in which parents present ID to get their children off the bus, was “assisted” as the driver attempted to drop the younger students off first.

“Backup occurred and the situation soon escalated with parents waiting for their students at the bus stop,” the district said in a statement.

@sierrapb

Here’s the other angle, the kids opened the emergency door, but someone closed it #fyp #pauldingcountygeorgia

♬ Original sound – si si ❤️🍒

According to Dallas Deputy Police Chief Bill Gorman, some parents went so far as to use their vehicles to stop the school bus from leaving with their children, causing a traffic jam when authorities arrived at the scene.

Gorman added that responding officers saw a traffic jam, a vehicle blocking a school bus and some extremely angry parents.

The students ultimately arrive home safely, the ongoing police investigation says

The students eventually got home safely with the help of a supervisor, a spokesman for the Paulding County schools said.

However, the parents said there should definitely be consequences for the behavior of the backup school bus driver, with one citing how close the bus stop is to a nearby main road.

“It’s so unsafe, and all the traffic on the 278 rushes by at 60 mph,” said one parent. “That’s crazy.”

The Dallas Police Department is currently conducting the investigation, which is ongoing. Police are asking anyone who has additional information about the incident to email investigator Lt. Selleck below mselleck@dallas-ga.gov.