Brian Fitzgerald, Castle Rock, Colorado school bus driver faces 30 child abuse charges slamming brakes on purpose because he wanted to teach elementary students a lesson.
He was just trying to teach the children a lesson. But now one Colorado school bus driver is out of a job along with facing a slew of child abuse charges for allegedly slamming the brakes on purpose and causing injury to the elementary students riding.
Brian Fitzgerald, a substitute bus driver, ‘fed up’ with the child passengers for refusing to remain in their seats decided to ‘teach them’ a lesson when he slammed the vehicle brakes leading to multiple children suffering injuries.
The incident which occurred on March 1 in Castle Rock, Colorado led to the driver being charged with 30 counts of child abuse. The episode led to Fitzgerald being fired by the Douglas County School District KRDO reported.
Surveillance footage captured Fitzgerald, 61, warning the elementary school students, ‘You guys need to be in your seats’.
Before repeating, ‘You guys want to see how dangerous that is?’
‘Did you get that? Do you get that?’
He then allegedly stomped on the brakes — sending the students flying into the seats in front of them and hitting their heads on the windows — while the bus was traveling approximately 9 mph, according to CBS News.
‘Did you get that? That’s why you need to be in your seat,’ Fitzgerald then told them. ‘Turn around and sit down properly. If you guys can’t do that, you will get written up. Do you get that?’
Shortly afterward, one child reportedly called her parents to report the incident. ‘The bus driver hit the brakes, and somebody got hurt so badly and is like bleeding on the cheek,’ she said. ‘We tell the bus driver, but he no care.’
Fitzgerald later told officials that he wanted to ‘teach the kids a lesson,’ KRDO reported.
‘It really made my stomach turn,’ said Lauren Thomason, a parent of one of the students on the bus per CBS
The video also caught an interaction between Fitzgerald and a parent, where he apologized for the brake check. ‘I was coming to a stop and I hit the brakes hard because they weren’t, they were not listening,’ he told the parent. ‘So, I’m sorry if she got hurt.’
Fitzgerald later sent an apology note to the district after the incident, but was nevertheless terminated.
‘Are we lowering our standards?’
Thomason was pleased with the man’s firing and follow up charges, while noting, ‘We’re really short in support staff, so are we just desperate now?’
Adding, ‘Are we lowering our standards? Are we not really doing the background checks?’
The incident led to the school district reprimanding the driver’s behaviour in a released statement.
‘Riding a bus to and from school should be a happy, enjoyable experience for students,’ the Douglas County School District said. ‘The behavior and actions of this bus driver are completely unacceptable. We are so grateful to the parents and the principal who reported this incident, allowing us to take swift action and ensure this driver was never again allowed behind the wheel of a DCSD bus.’
Court records show a misdemeanor charge was filed on April 12 against Fitzgerald, which includes 29 charges of child abuse with no injury and one count of child abuse with bodily injuries, ABC News reported.
