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Video shows woman boarding bus, threatening children

The woman, Kela leshia Hand, confronts a child she believed hit her stepdaughter and threatens the other children on the bus. She is later joined by her partner and four other adults, who walk into the bus against the driver’s objections.

May 8, 2014
Video shows woman boarding bus, threatening children

Video surveillance footage from a Clarksville-Montgomery County School System bus shows a woman and five other adults walking into the bus against the driver’s objections (the driver is at right in the screenshot). The woman yells at and threatens the children.<br/><small>Screenshot from video obtained by <i>Leaf-Chronicle</i></small>

2 min to read


CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — The Leaf-Chronicle reports that video from Clarksville-Montgomery County School System shows a woman, Kela leshia Hand, boarding a school bus to confront a child she believed hit her stepdaughter in the mouth and threatened the other children on the bus on April 25.

She was later joined by her partner, who is her stepdaughter’s mother, and four other adults, who walked into the bus against the bus driver’s objections.

In the video, Hand walks past the driver, ignoring her objections, and yells at the children. She tries to lead the 7-year-old boy she at first suspected of hitting her daughter off the bus as he cries and screams, according to the newspaper. Some of the other adults who boarded the bus appeared to be checking on their children, while others argued with the kids over who started the fight. One yelled at the children to sit down and behave themselves.

Hand was charged with two counts of assault and one count of disorderly conduct and was banned from St. Bethlehem Elementary School property.

The bus driver, Connie Pritzl, radioed dispatch after Hand first got on the bus, but then she put the radio down. In the video, dispatchers can be heard in the background trying to get a response from Pritzl as she tries to control the situation. A letter of reprimand in Pritzl’s personnel file says dispatch called 911 to request assistance and asked Pritzl for her location, according to the Leaf-Chronicle. After several attempts by dispatch to reach her, Pritzl finally radioed back and said the parent had left the bus, so the request for assistance from 911 was canceled.

Following an investigation, Pritzl was suspended without pay May 1 and 2 and was placed on a five-day alternate work site without pay May 5-9. To read the full story, click here. The video is below.

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