Officials probe alleged school bus incident
MENALLEN TWP. – Charges are pending against a local school bus driver after he allegedly assaulted two Smock boys during a dispute on a Uniontown Area School District bus Friday. State police trooper Timothy Stanley is investigating the incident, according to police.
According to Edward Camp of Smock, the driver, who is not being identified pending the formalization of charges, struck Edward Camp’s son, Eddie Camp, 9, and another child, Dustin Riggin, 9, on the bus ride home from Menallen School Friday.
Rittenhouse Bus Line Inc. of Smock employs the driver.
The company declined to comment on the incident Wednesday afternoon and it was not clear whether the driver was still employed by the bus line.
Edward Camp said he became aware that something was wrong when his son got off the bus at his home in Smock Friday afternoon crying.
“He got off the bus and the side of his face and neck and ear were all red and he was crying,” Edward Camp said. “He told his mother that the bus driver slapped him.”
Andrea Camp, Eddie’s mother, said the driver grabbed her son by the shirt with his left hand and then struck him hard in the face with his right.
Edward Camp said he and his wife drove to the bus garage where Andrea confronted the driver who allegedly admitted he struck Eddie.
“I watched the tapes and there was a group of boys in the back and there was some horseplay. The whole bus was chaotic,” Edward Camp said. “The bus driver stopped the bus and separated the boys in the back. My son and Dustin Riggin listened to everything he told them to do and moved to seats in the front of the bus. The driver then got into an argument with an older boy and after that, as he walked toward the front of the bus, he stiff-armed Riggin into the bus window. Then he (the driver) drew back his hand and slapped my son across the face. Now after I watched this happen, you talk about restraint. It was all I could do to control my anger.”
Additionally, Edward Camp claims that despite reports that the driver was fired from his position, he said the Smock man was driving a different bus for the bus lines Monday and Tuesday. “We feel that a bus driver that strikes children should be fired and yet he is still driving,” Edward Camp said.
Rittenhouse Bus Lines refused to comment on whether the driver is still working for the company.
Camp said he and his wife have been driving their son to school since the incident.
“He is afraid to ride the bus,” Edward Camp said. “I don’t blame him.”
The alleged incident occurred less than one minute from Camp’s home.
“It shocked me and it hurt me because I trusted him with my children,” Andrea Camp said, noting that her daughter, Haley, 10, also rode the bus until the incident occurred. “I just couldn’t believe it was true.”
Andrea Camp said her son had not been involved in any incidents on the bus the entire school year and said Wednesday that she was still trying to grasp what made the driver strike her son.
“You can sit him in the front of the bus, suspend him, kick him off the bus – I don’t care but this is not what you do,” Andrea Camp said. “This is what they supposedly get trained to deal with. I know that is hard to drive with two children let alone a bus full but you cannot touch another person’s child like that.”
State police said investigators are examining the surveillance video from the bus.
No charges had been filed against the driver as of press time.
Messages left at the bus driver’s home were not returned Wednesday.
Uniontown School District Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon and evening.