No Charges Against School Bus Driver in Alleged Student Fight

Police say there is not sufficient evidence to seek criminal charges against a Georgia driver who was accused of threatening and hitting two students during a reported conflict.

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October 31, 2017

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MARIETTA, Ga. — Police will not file criminal charges against a school bus driver who had been accused of threatening and hitting students during an alleged fight between two students on her route, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

As previously reported, in the Oct. 20 incident, the bus driver, who has 12 years of experience driving for Marietta City Schools, was placed on administrative leave after she reportedly broke up a fight. There was no video of the alleged conflict because the bus was not equipped with a recording drive.

Marietta police officer Chuck McPhilamy told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that an investigation did not find enough evidence to seek criminal charges. A police report obtained by the newspaper stated that the two students involved in the alleged fight told police that the bus driver cursed at, pushed, and hit them on the drive home. The students also said, according to the statement, that the driver pushed one of the students' head, causing him to fall. That student received a small cut on his leg, police said. The other student said the driver hit him on one of his hands and left a scratch. Police added that other students corroborated the injured students’ stories and that one of the students left the bus with a bloodied head, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The driver, who does not regularly drive that route, told police that the only physical contact she had with the students was putting out her right arm to stop them from leaving the bus before they were supposed to, and that she didn’t see any injuries or threaten the students, according to the newspaper. The driver also told police that she pulled over to look into claims of a fight, but that she did not have to break up a fight, and that an angry parent cursed at her when she prevented the parent from boarding the bus. A school official told officers that none of the students came forward as witnesses and had very little information about the incident, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

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