"Lately, when his mother would say it was time to go to school, he would reply, 'No. Stay here,' she said. When asked why, he would just say, 'No' or shake his head." Also, the boy's parents had been getting a lot of notices about their son's conduct for months.
"We never had this problem with him before, which is why we decided to put the tape recorder onto the bus to see what was Jacob's actual behavior," she said. "And, shockingly, we found out it wasn't Jacob's behavior. It was the bus driver's."On the tape, recorded April 29, Mutulo [Rosemary Mutulo, the boy's mother] said, the driver can be heard shouting at Jacob repeatedly during the approximately 45-minute ride because the boy is making bus engine noises or yelling. At one point, she said, the driver stops the bus and can be heard moving toward the boy, followed by what sounds like a hand slapping clothing.
The Mutulos brought the tape to officials' attention, and on Saturday night police arrested the bus driver, a 28-year-old Milwaukee man, at his home on the south side. According to the arrest report, the recommended charges are physical abuse of a child and disorderly conduct.
The driver's father is on record as saying his son would never hurt kids, and that the charges are a "big, outrageous lie."
attribution: I Am Always Right and the author of that site, Toney Rosen was a big angry over this ordeal as he has a niece with Down syndrome. [full story]
Posted by Tiger at May 7, 2003 07:39 PM | TrackBack