Whatever happened to the demerit system, having bus monitors to assist school bus drivers, and assigning the rowdiest routes to the burliest, most competent drivers? Baltimore is facing some tough criticism as an out-of-control bus makes the news:
Old Court Middle School pupils aboard a bus were so rowdy Tuesday that the driver apparently was not aware that a boy had fallen out the rear emergency door, police and school officials said yesterday.
The boy was identified as Sedrick Alexander Bailey, 11, a seventh-grader who lives in the 7800 block of Kenbridge Road in the Windsor Mill area of Baltimore County. He remained in the critical care unit of Sinai Hospital last night and was listed in serious condition, a hospital spokesman said.
Luckily for the boy, there were some adults nearby who were paying attention:
County police spokesman Bill Toohey said that after the bus passed Sedrick's usual stop, another child opened the back door and encouraged the boy to jump out. Police and school officials were investigating whether Sedrick then accidentally fell, jumped or was pushed.
Rudy Seunarine, 43, who lives at Coronado and Kenbridge, said he was in his driveway when he saw Sedrick lying on his back in the street, with the bus traveling on, its emergency door open.
Seunarine said he slipped Sedrick's white notebook under the boy's injured head for support while calling 911 on a cell phone.
"He was in bad shape," the neighbor said. "He was crying. He was in shock. ... He told me he was pushed, but it's up in the air still."
The punchline here, such as it is, is that the driver remained clueless about what happened until the school, alerted by police, contacted him (didn't he notice his rear door was open? there is an alarm for that sort of thing). The reason given is all the confusion and shouting on the bus (did he not notice what they were shouting?). Oh, and the bus driver is 81 years old - not to bring up ageism here, but it's certainly possible that the age factor had something to do with this.
Posted by kswygert at September 9, 2004 11:23 AM