As far as this driver de-escalating the situation...The driver is the one who pulled the bus over, got out of her seat and confronted the girl who was doing nothing but talking on her cell phone according to student reports and what is visible on the video. If the driver was concerned over the girl's talking, that would have been more of a school administrator's discipline issue for the next school morning. A write up would have sufficed.
The driver initially reported the girl gave a false name, and that was why she pulled the bus over yet the driver called her by name indicating she knew this student. I don't buy the false name stuff. The whole issue is over the girl's talking which was no louder or no more disruptive than any others as she could not be heard over the other children who were also talking loudly.
The driver then goes on to initiate confrontation by asking the girl why she was even on the bus and suggesting she find another way to and from school. Again, an administrator could have handled this according to the school's transportation policy.
The driver, whose bus and its passengers were in NO harm prior to this incident, endangered those kids moreso than this girl by pulling over to begin with. Obviously she did so unsafely as one of the kids on the bus can be heard warning her "there are a lot of cars behind you." Unless there were emergency circumstances demanding an immediate stop, the driver should have pulled over into an area where traffic was not an issue, particularly since those kids exited the bus via an emergency door onto the roadway.
Yes, the girl should have sat down and shut up. Yes, she was obnoxious and whiny. Yes, she was even vulgar. But, she was NOT physical. The driver originally instigated and even further antagonized the situation further by slapping the cell phone out of the girl's hand. That, according to Sgt. Marrino, is where the situation began to get out of control physically and where the driver crossed the line into the area of assault. I believe the police officers have a better vantage point from which to conclude their investigation and to suggest the driver be charged with assault as well. They have witnesses who saw things first hand; things we could not see on the tape. The PD and DA's office would know whether or not criminal charges were warranted, and against whom, better than you or I.
The driver could have handled this situation in an entirely different and safer manner than she did. At no time prior to the confrontation did the student appear to be posing a threat to or endangering the driver or the other students. The tape was rolling long before this incident and had there been evidence to indicate otherwise, it would have been shown by now.
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Agreed. The bus driver showed very poor judgment. Although I sympathize with those doing this nearly thankless job, pulling over and confronting the student was the wrong choice.
Ideally one would pray -- and I meant pray -- that was the case.
Yet there is clearly can be problems with PD and DA's -- especially in cases where there are associations and connections with the culprits. These can be personal or professional, family, friends, or from involvement with prior cases.
The Duke Lacrosse Team Prosecution is a recent infamous case. There the prosecutor knew the family of the one girl from their contribution as witnesses/victims is prior crimes he had prosecuted. There also was surely, I suspect, general class-warfare political vendettas going on -- within the PD and DAs office.
Another case -- which should be more famous is a forcible date-rape/porno-filming gang rape incident in Mercer County NJ which occurred a few months ago. The alleged preps are State Troopers.
All local prosecutors -- city and county appear to be afraid to take the case. AFAIK it still has not been charged. the US Attorney in NJ has offered to take the case -- but it is a state crime, not a federal one. Sad.
Trust but verify. A good citizentry is a vigilant citizentry.
And as is the case in all witness observation, one's emotions and preconceptions at the time of the incident prejudice and charge-up how the incident is remembered.
I do not take the words of the student who called 911 and used the words "gone insane" as a accurate or fair description of what he was seeing and experiencing . The student is part of the mob by that time -- the mob was almost feral by that point. The situation was crazy -- that is how the words "gone insane" might realistically be interpreted. The situation was so far beyond his normal expectations that they were "insane" to him.
Yet by his report to the 911 dispatcher that description applied to the driver may well have become part of the words flying at the scene - it might have prejudiced the police response on arrival at the scene and it certainly would prejudice the testimony of the parents at the scene if it was they heard it on the police radio, or from the police themselves upon arrival.
So the descriptions of parents at the event that were then given to the police could well be prejudicially biased against the driver.