LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. – A local parent faces charges for attacking a school bus driver in Lee’s Summit.
It happened Monday while students were getting dropped off at the Crossroads of Lee’s Summit Townhome Complex.
Police said a parent assaulted a school bus driver, but that parent said she wasn’t the first one to get physical.
“I saw the bus driver get out the seat with her clipboard, so I walked over there,” neighbor Brittany Markeson said.
She’s not the parent who’s cited with assault, but Markeson said she did see what happened before the attack Monday afternoon. She said there was a situation between a young boy and the bus driver.
“I’m waiting for my son to get off the bus, too, and she just yanks the crap out of this kid and is like forcing him off the bus,” Markeson said.
The mother of that boy is Khadija Walton. She told FOX4 her son had scratches and red marks on his arm.
Walton said her 7-year-old is now scared, having nightmares at night and struggling to get on the bus in the morning.
“It’s scary. We’ve got kids on this bus,” Markeson said. “You’re supposed to protect our kids, and you did not protect our kids. You put your hands on a kids.”
Markeson said that’s why she went to get Walton.
A different neighbor recounted what happened next.
“All of a sudden, I just saw her start swinging on the bus driver, and the bus driver’s trying to defend herself,” said another neighbor who didn’t want to be identified. “The bus was started to kind of roll, and so the bus driver had to slam on the brakes before the bus rolled into the curb right here.”
Police said the bus driver went to the hospital with cuts and bruises to the face. Walton wasn’t injured and will face assault charges in city court.
“I was frightened and scared. Like, what if my daughter was still on the bus,” the neighbor said, “and I was afraid for the kids that were still on that bus.”
The Lee’ Summit School District could only confirm it’s investigating the assault on the bus driver.
Parents said a different driver has since taken over, and she’s a familiar face.
“The next day when their old bus driver showed up, they screamed with joy, and I mean I started crying,” Markeson said.
Walton’s court date is in December. She could face up to six months in jail and a fine.
