Video shows bus driver never intervened in student brawl

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A local school district has disciplined a bus driver who never intervened when a fight broke out between two students on her bus.

The altercation was recorded by another student on her cellphone and placed on Facebook.

Channel 2's Tom Jones spoke to Woodland Middle School parents about the incident and some didn't approve of how the driver handled the incident.

"That's disturbing," parent Dawn Lowe said outside the school.

The video records two Woodland Middle School girls on the bus engaged in a verbal altercation laced with profanity for more than two minutes.

They then began fighting with one of the girls smashing the other's head into the bus window and then repeatedly stomping on her head. The other students on the bus urge the girls on.

"Hit her," one student said in the video. "Punch her in the face," said another.

During the more than four minutes of video recorded of the altercation, the bus driver appears to never turn around, or take any action to stop the bus and stop the violence.

Lowe couldn't believe it after watching the video.

"She doesn't even react to it. How could she keep driving," Lowe said

She wonders what would have happened if the fight spilled over to where the driver was.

"They're all in the aisle. They're all in the seats. I mean, they're only three seats from her," she said.

Lowe's daughter, Alyssa, is a student at the school.

Alyssa also thinks the driver should have done more.

"I think she should have stopped and told them to like stop fighting and at least like, pull the bus over," she said.

Henry County School District spokesman J.D. Hardin told Channel 2's Tom Jones the district reviewed the incident and disciplined the driver.

Hardin wouldn't identify the driver or discuss the punishment.

He said the policy is for the driver to verbally try to get the students to stop fighting. If that fails, he said the driver should safely pull the bus over and attempt to break up the fight. If all that failed, Hardin said the bus driver should use the district provided radio to contact transportation department officials to apprise them of the incident to determine if law enforcement should be called.

Hardin said students on the bus were also disciplined.

Parents said the only adult on the bus has to make sure the students are protected.

"They should be watching better than that," parent Margaret Payne said.

WSBTV