Community Service: Video Shows School Bus Driver Intentionally Slamming On Brakes To Teach Kids Lesson

[Sugar Cookie]

Video from inside the bus, first obtained this week by station KRDO, captured the jolt that sent the Castle Rock Elementary School students’ faces into the backs of seats in front of them in Colorado Springs on March 1.

Brian Fitzgerald, 61, the substitute bus driver who was dropping off the students, ranging from kindergartners to sixth-graders, at the end of the school day, is heard in the footage berating the children before brake-checking them.

“You guys need to be in your seats,” Fitzgerald tells his pint-size passengers, before adding: “You guys want to see how dangerous that is?”

Fitzgerald then slams on the brakes at 9 mph, causing the children to cry out, “Ow! Oh, my God!”

The driver tells the students: “Did you get that? That’s why you need to be in your seat, turn around and sit down properly.”

A child is heard asking, “Why would he do that?”

Another girl at the back of the bus later gets on the phone with a parent and complains about the bus driver, saying his actions have left one of her schoolmates bleeding from the cheek.

When that girl got off the bus at her stop, she burst into tears. Her father, who was picking her up, told Fitzgerald that his daughter was hurt and warned him that he should “go easy on the brakes.”

In the video, Fitzgerald tries to defend himself, accusing the children of “running all over the place” — a claim that some of the kids vehemently deny.

Fitzgerald appears to admit acting intentionally, telling the parent: “I was coming to a stop and I hit the brakes hard because they were not listening.”

After receiving complaints from multiple parents, the Douglas County School District sidelined Fitzgerald from driving while conducting an internal investigation, which ultimately found that “the driver did brake check the students.”

Fitzgerald was hired by the school district in October 2022, and March 1 was the first day he was driving a general education bus on his own after finishing his training, reported KRDO.

Video shows school bus driver intentionally slamming on brakes to teach kids lesson: cops

Brian Fitzgerald, 61, from Colorado, faces 30 charges of child abuse for brake-checking students to teach them a lesson.

nypost.com

 

[Metalfan]

Now SHADDAP!

 

[Sejanus]

It was a genuine teaching moment yet the lesson fell of deaf ears of some little buggers. Parents, teach your kids better!

 

[thuumpr]

Besides sidelining, what's the punishment?

 

[Symmachus]

 

[Khadijah]

Besides sidelining, what's the punishment?

did the bus driver do the right thing?

 

[sgr1966]

did the bus driver do the right thing?

No he didn't.
But, what if he really was trying to avoid an accident? They weren't sitting properly. They should be totally in their seat area. Facing forward, not hanging in the aisle or standing.

 

[thuumpr]

did the bus driver do the right thing?

My question was rhetorical (most people would know the answer to that hence the parent's complaints) but let's hear what you think.

 

[Flam3inKaiju]

Hail to the bus driver,
bus driver, bus driver,
Hail to the bus driver,
bus driver-man
He screams and he cusses,
He rams other buses.
Hail to the bus driver,
bus driver-man.

In the words of a wise professional "HANG ON LIL DUDES"

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Brian Fitzgerald was immediately sentenced to 48 hours of community service, but the judge deferred his sentence for 12 months. The charges for the Castle Rock man stem from an incident where he allegedly slammed on the brakes and sent students into the backs of the seats in front of them.

According to the court, Fitzgerald won't have to do community service if he stays out of legal trouble during the next year.

Former Douglas County school bus driver pleads guilty in slamming brakes case, child abuse charges dismissed

A former school bus driver for Douglas County Schools pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in exchange for 30 counts of child abuse being dismissed.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Satanica]

I think I might have forbidden him from driving a school bus again.

 

[McDanel]

"A dog ran in front of the bus."

 

[Angiebla]

What if a kid was in the aisle and went flying forward and was seriously injured?

They could have sustained head injuries, even a broken neck.

 

[Symmachus]

"A dog ran in front of the bus."

"...and I'm sorry teacher, the dog then went on the bus, dug into my backpack, and ate most of the papers inside. That's why I don't have any homework to turn in today. I'm so sorry, it won't happen again."