Update: Fired bus supervisor won't face charges
Heidi Mullin was fired after being captured by a cell phone video pushing a 7-year-old student off of her. The county prosecutor finds that while Mullin's actions "were not the best," charges would not be filed against her for pushing the boy away "when he had his coat over her head and she said she had difficulty breathing.”
GALESBURG, Mich. — A transportation supervisor who was fired after being captured by a cell phone video pushing a student off of her will not face criminal charges, the county prosecutor said last week.
Behavioral problems with the 7-year-old boy, Hunter Dawson, and others on the bus had reportedly been occurring for weeks, and Heidi Mullin, a supervisor for Auxilio Services, was directed to ride the bus in the role of an aide to assess the situation.
According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Fink said that a short cell phone video of the incident taken by a student and a longer video taken by Mullin were reviewed before a decision was made.
Fink said that Mullin's video shows that the boy's behavior was "disruptive, disobedient and problematic" and that he threw his backpack at Mullin and then "forcibly attempted to grab the backpack back.”
Other students on the bus reported that Dawson also "threatened to get a family member to kill" Mullin, according to the prosecutor.
The pushing had reportedly occurred when Mullin sat next to the boy and he pulled his coat over her head.
According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, Fink said that while Mullin's actions "were not the best — we are not going to issue charges against her for pushing [Dawson] away when he had his coat over her head and she said she had difficulty breathing.”
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