A video obtained by Hattiesburg Patriot News Media shows a bus driver employed at the Forrest County School District assaulting an unnamed student. Throughout the encounter, the driver appears to have the student in a choke hold.
“He’s over here fighting a 5’3″ kid thinking he is bad”
At one point the driver proclaims,
“No one on this bus could knock me out.”
At one point another student says to the driver,
“There’s high schoolers and kids on here. Why are you trying to fight anybody?”
At the end of the video Coach Alexander (Coach A) get’s on the bus to diffuse the situation. HPNM reached out to the district. Mr. Bryan Freeman told HPNM,
“We have seen the video, and the employee has been terminated for violating our policies and procedures. That is not something we tolerate. We will not tolerate, and that employee is no longer with us.”
Just to drop some of what I’m hearing just to clarify, is that the boy in the video is a known bully who not only like to pick on kids with disabilities but like to stab the BD in the neck with a pencil and make horrible threats to people. The BD was not choking the kid he was restraining him till other personnel came. Everyone talking about him and his language what about the kids language? The lack of respect these kids show is more concerning than a BD containing a bully. And before people start with the “your family so you gotta defend him” crap I haven’t had shit to do with my brother for many years and am simply defending a BD for doing what (if what I hear is right)is the right thing to do in his situation.
This is crazy. Choke hold???? He was restraining the child….where is the part of the video that shows why the bus driver had to stop the bus and RESTRAIN the child? If Hattiesburg Patriot is so big in reporting the truth then report all of it. Based on this clip parent should be glad he was the driver….again he simply restrained him
I was out of the country last week what the heck have I missed and what bus was this? This is so sad.
Where is video from bus camera? Do they not have them anymore?
Itâs all very sad, but back in the day, many years ago, kids would not have dreamed of such. We were all taught respect at home. Thatâs where it starts. We had very young bus drivers when we were in school. We were taught to respect them just like our elders. They were in a place of responsibility so they got respect. Iâm not taking up for ANYONE!!Respect is a 2 way street & begins at home. Who knows what had happened or how many times..
Stop it hattiesburg patriot!! You constantly stir crap with people! That driver did nothing wrong! He did not abuse anyone!
I have seen video from beginning to end. Not sure why it was not shown here. I will say, that from this small tid bit, it might LOOK like he was restraining the CHILD. This is 6/8 minutes in. The driver asked the child to come to the front. As he was walking to the front the driver jerked him & started pushing him. The CHILD told him to get his hands off of him & tried to pull away. This is when the “man” decided to “restrain” the child. He slammed him down on the seat numerous times causing the CHILD’S head to hit against the side of the seat & the wall of the bus. The whole time he is hollaring & taunting the CHILD. Also arguing with another kid over how tuff he is or how he makes more money than them. This is the grown up that was in charge of children’s well being!! I assure you, the actions taken by this “man” were unnecessary!!!
I wish they had posted the entire video so people can see it in order to form a logical opinion although from what I saw on this clip, it doesn’t seem like logical and this driver have much in common.
Karen Niemeyer Carrasco I don’t think so, I’m not sure why it isn’t posted here. It would explain the situation so much! I actually saw it from someone that was there.
Is the whole video posted somewhere?
We are thinking the same way on this Shannon Mosher Smith!!!
I will say, I NEVER get involved in these type of matters. But, wrong is wrong & that little boy didn’t deserve to be manhandled, belittled, & embarrassed the way he was.
I would prefer the parents do that!!
Please send in the full video. The video that was published it what was received in its entirety.
Very True i was on the bus
Yes, yes, yes!! I was thinking this video made it look like he was only restraining the kid, when in reality he was WAY out of line. I seen the same video. And from my understanding, the kid was bruised from being “restrained”
Wasnât assault to me. Held him until an administrator arrived.
Yeah, he was fired for holding him. Cool story.
The WHOLE video needs to be seen before some people start putting their opinions in. Why was it not shown. It will LITERALLY make you sick to your stomach. This is not a âmanâ, he is an animal!!!!! No matter what this child done this piece of dirt had NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER manhandling this child the way he did. God help if he EVER put his hands on one of mine!!!!
âAt the end of the video Coach Alexander (Coach A) get’s on the bus to diffuse the situation.â???
Unfortunately, I know.
Kristy Broadhead, he is a wanna be. Sad to say, Iâve known him to stir more situations than diffuse. He always seems to hide behind others when itâs time to face the music. ðð
Right…puts his hands behind his back. Is he a school administer or a police officer?
What exactly was he supposed to do? If you get called into a situation where a bus driver is restraining a student you donât know what has happened. The kid could be a threat for all he knew. He walked into a blind situation & took the kid away from the bus driver. After he removed the kid from the choke hold of the driver he could ask questions where no one was being injured. It also wasnât his jurisdiction as the child was from south forest not the high school. Did you want him to leave him there until Mrs Dolan got there? Iâm just confused as to what exactly you wanted him to do .
Regardless of what this video shows, this man had no right to restrain a child like this. Obviously there are 3 sides to every story, both parties involved and then the truth, but this is a GROWN MAN and a CHILD!!
Jason Behrens is his name Mary Harvison
So what caused the driver to stop the bus and go âassaultâ this student? Did he get tired of driving and just pull over and go attack him? Or was the student fighting with another student,hurting another student, hurting himself? If the student was fighting with someone and the driver didnât do anything he would have been fired. If he stops whatever was happening we get to see a 1 sided video with no explanation of what happened that led up to the student being restrained and he gets fired. Seems like your âsourcesâ would have told you the whole story and if they did hopefully the whole story would be reported. Instead you are out for likes and shares at the expense of a person that barely makes minimum wage 4 hours a day driving a bus. A reputable site would not post half a story without some effort put into trying to get a statement from the district. But because of the antics and stunts this site has pulled in the past they will never been seen as reputable. I do understand the frustration of the issues that are covered here but sometimes people have a hard time getting past the tactics used
Brandon Lee if you will click on the article and read all the way down. School states driver was let go. If they saw nothing wrong donât you think they would of placed him on leave while under investigation?? Just saying
I get it Brandon, but I have a child in this school district and had a similar incident with this drivers wife when she was a substitute driver for our regular driver. Iâm glad someone reported it. I agree itâs only a partial story but had HP not reported it, it would have probably been swept under the rug.
The reason nobody else is reporting it is because they donât have a complete story. Iâm not taking up or making excuses Iâm talking about half way reporting something and leaving it open to speculation that then turns to knee jerk reactions. You know as well as I do exactly what Iâm talking about.
Again all these people taken up or making excuses for the bus driver or bashing Patriot if it were there kid the table would be turned and they would think differently.. I promise
Additionally, Hattiesburg Patriot may not be able to report the story in its entirety but itâs a lot more than WDAM or Hattiesburg American has reported on the incident.
If you can’t deal with a high stress job, taking care of children, no matter the pay, you don’t need to do it!
I completely respect your questions but I have seen another video, in its entirety, and itâs much worse than this clip. I also know the child and his parents. It was completely unwarranted.
Paula Henderson heâs a thug for stopping the bus after being stabbed in the neck with a pencil and restraining the child from hurting anybody else? Honestly I could care less what happened. Mainly Iâm more concerned that only have the story was told or promoted. If the driver is wrong heâs wrong if the kid is in the wrong heâs wrong thatâs not the point of my initial comment. Itâs that only the convenient side was told by someone who wants people held responsible and heâs not performing responsible journalism.
Kristy Broadhead he has feet right?
Brandon, are you saying the kid stabbed the driver in the neck with a pencil? From that far back in the bus?
And are you admitting you would of harmed a kid more than with this thug did or did I read that wrong?
Brandon Lee oh so this is about you and not the kid that was being harmed in this video..
Paula Henderson no I donât. The school wants to be as distant as they can from it when or if they get to court and leave the bus driver out on his own. Had a kid stabbed me in the neck with a pencil I would have probably done a lot worse than what this driver did. The being stabbed in the neck part was conveniently left out. Just saying
This kid was in the back of the bus, he did not stab the driver in the neck with a pencil.
Brandon Lee where is your proof he was stabbed?
Kristy Broadhead he isnât worth the time. This is about a kid that was mistreated regardless. And a bus driver that lost his temper. The more we feed into this boy he will continue with stupid commentsð¤¦ââï¸
Brandon Lee, no half reporting. The video received was published in its entirety and a comment from the district was sought and published. If another, more lengthy video is obtained, it will be published.
Why didnât he tell the School official that got on he stabbed me. Why did he continue to argue with kids. Why didnât he grab his neck once he never let go of that child?
I’m not defending the bus driver’s behavior caught on this video clip. However my children ride this bus and this particular student seems to stay in trouble. I hope they investigate a little deeper. My 3rd grade daughter was being bullied by this 8th grade male student by calling her names and punching the back of her seat. My 8th grader stated this boy is well known for bad behavior. My 3rd grader was scolded by the assistant principal and principal for standing up and turning around in her seat when she was trying to persuade the boy to stop punching her seat. The camera apparently didn’t catch the boy punching the seat or so they said. I wasn’t allowed to watch the video. I hope that they also hold the students who were using profanity against the bus driver and calling another student mentally retarded will be held for their actions as well.
Hattiesburg Patriot News Media so how was it determined that he was assaulting the student and not defending himself? Did the district tell you he assaulted the student and was fired?
Angel Dye itâs sad times. Everyone tends to stick up for the bullies. I have dealt with this kind of stuff with my children on and off of the bus. At and away from school. Same reasons our law enforcement is dealing with the problems at hand. Someone sees a short video that began recording shortly after a situation escalated then cast a quick judgment.
Before commenting please read the article. He was investigated and terminated by the district. The video is evidence of the assault.
There is a longer video that is being sought by HPNM, which according to people who have seen it, is even more aggregious than the one published here.
Angel Dye I am, in no way condoning the behavior of the little boy. I have seen the entire video. Unless the boy was physically harming himself or someone else there was no reason for him to be done the way he was done. Unfortunately he is a kid & kids can be cruel & mean. But he didn’t deserve what was done. A proper punishment should have been given, yes. But what was done was very uncalled for. The video I saw was 13+ minutes. He didn’t start calling names or physically fighting back until his head had been slammed several times. It was at least 6 minutes into the video before he started doing that. The driver on the other hand was yelling & arguing with other kids from the beginning.
Brandon Lee are you seriously making up random lies to make this ok? Fucking slap yourself
Brandon Lee oh so this is about you and not the kid that was being harmed in this video..
I agree…Hburg Patriot is so big on finding the truth. Where is the unbiased reporting? There is more to this story and from what is shown here is driver simply restraining the student
There is no biased reporting. This video is the entirety of what HPNM obtained. There is purportedly another video that is longer and shows the driver assault the student after the driver became frustrated with things that were said.
The driver WAS NOT restraining the student to protect the student or any other student. HPNM has interviewed multiple people regarding this incident. What was published was 100% accurate.
I think assault is a little strong. Restrained more like it.
I’m trying to think of a career path where the risk-to-reward ratio is even less than Public School “anything”……. I got nothing……
Had a buddy of mine, combat engineer. Went out and cleared land mines in Bosnia and Afghanistan. That might top it, maybe….
HP where is the video evidence where this guy is assaulting this student? Heâs restraining him yes but not hitting or punching him. Now we donât know what happened before the camera started rolling but itâs a little disingenuous to say heâs assaulting him.
There is video from beginning to end, this is a small clip of what all went on. Itâs unacceptable!
Would you want you child treated like this for any reason? By someone at a school
If he was assaulting another student, I would absolutely want him restrained. But the commenter has a point, this isn’t the whole story. What happened to reporting on the whole issue and not jus bits and pieces…
Innocent until proven guilty.
Under Mississippi law, a person commits an assault if he:
attempts to physically injure another personintentionally or recklessly causes physical injury to anothernegligently causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon, orthreatens another person, causing that person to feel afraid that he is about to suffer serious physical injury.
A reckless act is one that is committed, not necessarily with intent to harm another, but without regard for the outcome. Pushing someone out of the way in a crowd so that you can get through, without intending to injure the person, could be an assault if the person falls and is injured. A negligent act is one that is not intentional but occurs because the actor fails to exercise reasonable care. An accidental shooting can be a negligent assault if it results from a person not being careful enough when handling or firing a gun.
The physical injury involved in a simple assault must be a minor injury like a cut, scrape and bruise. If the offender causes more serious injury, such as a broken bone or an injury that requires surgery or hospitalization, the crime is an aggravated assault, which is a more serious offense than simple assault. For information on this crime and assault with a deadly weapon, see Aggravated Assault in Mississippi
Jerri Leigh Groth, the video published was the entire video that was sent in to HPNM. A comment was sought and published from the district. If an other video is sent to HPNM, it too will be published in its entirety. If more facts are obtained, an update will be published.
Kristy Broadhead then send it to HP for everyone to see the entire video. If itâs as you say then Iâll be the first in line to put a little assault on the driver.
Joseph Barker I agree with you, I was just stating that I had seen the entire video and it was defiantly assault. Even if that kid had done something that justifies being restrained, he didnât deserve what he got! Iâm a parent that still believes in spanking! We go through wooden spoons at my house like crazy, this was over the top, excessive and made me sick to my stomach to watch!
Kristy Broadhead hence I said ânow we donât know what happened before the camera started rollingâ. The headline says it shows video of the driver assaulting him. I saw him restraining him. And yes I know if you put your hands on anyone without their consent then it can be considered assault. If this kid was going off on another kid or the driver then I would hope someone would restrain him.
Joseph Barker I think itâs up to the childâs parents to release the video in its entirety.
I will say to u miss i have seen the full video we are not allowed to release it because of the ongoing case with the police but take my word for it or dont idc he never should have laid a hand on the kid
I’m thinking we need to have some SERIOUS inservices……..
Iâve seen another part of this video and it was completely unwarranted!
Looks like he was restraining him not fighting him.
I am sure a child of that age he could of handled this in a different manner?
What you want him to do Paula? Whip his butt? I only saw him restraining him.
Paula Henderson I donât know. When either one of my sons was that age they where pretty dang tough to handle. And that was just playing around in the living room. If they got really mad then bar the door.
Joseph Barker omg are you still going on you have made your point and so has everyone else I am not going to continue to argue with your childish self. If you have this much time there is an opening for a bus driver why donât you go apply since your so perfect.
Joseph Barker for almost 24 hours now you have been on to make a comment and itâs geez man! Have a good night maybe you will have more to do tonight that this! ðð
Paula Henderson I was just answering what you had posted about how he could have been dealt with differently. I wasnât arguing with you. Jeez lady.
Ginny Walker English answering his stupid questions glad I could give u a laugh! ðð»
Paula Henderson LOL, just stating the obvious – you have posted more in this thread that almost anyone, so you calling him out “for almost 24 hours now you have been on to make a comment” is absolutely the funniest thing I’ve read today. Ducking back out now.
Smh.. I’m sharing
Has the parents pressed charges yet for the upcoming law suit?
Who is that piece of trash ?
This is a serious case of redneckery going on right there…..