Video shows 9-year-old boy with autism being humiliated, apparently tied up on school bus
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three years ago, a young boy with autism came home with marks on his wrist – and his mother thought he was being abused on the school bus.
On Thursday, video surfaced proving exactly what his mother feared.
The video was captured on a school bus on Feb. 20, 2020. We blurred the faces of the bus driver and attendant because neither have been charged with a crime.
In the video, a bus attendant is heard yelling, "Stop!" to MaCaulay Frye.
At the time, MaCaulay was a 9-year-old student at Harvard Elementary School, in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. MaCaulay has autism.
The bus attendant goes over to MaCaulay and tells him to turn around. She appears to raise his hands in the air.
"Your mom thought you were going to stay," the attendant said.
The bus driver says to the attendant, "Looks like he's getting worse!"
The bus attendant responds, saying, "He thinks everything is a joke! Everything!"
Next you hear MaCaulay yell, "No!"
The bus attendant tries to restrain him – in what the boy's lawyers say might have involved tying his hands together.
The child says, "Stop, no! That hurts when you… No! No!"
The bus attendant gets up to walk toward the front of the bus, then turns to the child and says: "I ain't finished. I got to redo you."
She then says to the bus driver, "MaCaulay, I didn't tie him good."
The bus driver responds with a laugh to the bus attendant's comment.
Then, as the wheelchair lift is moving, the bus aide walks over, points to MaCaulay, and says: "He can't play. He going to sit right there and be tied up like a slave."
She adds, "Can't believe we got to tie you up every day."
LaBeth Frye is MaCaulay's mother.
"To compare tying a child up to slavery is just horrible," Frye said. "It's just very hard to watch for me. Very hard to speak about it as well."
Frye has been working with her legal team on the case since July 2021.
In response to the lawsuit Frye filed against Illinois Central School Bus LLC and the Chicago Board of Education, Illinois Central School Bus said the child contributed to his alleged injuries by failing to follow instructions and behave in a reasonable manner - fighting with the bus attendant, along with other behavior.
"They went so far as to blame a 10-year-old autistic child for the actions of not one, but two adults that were present when this happened," said attorney Ted Vineski, representing MaCaulay and his family. "I think that's horrific. It's unacceptable."
The Chicago Public Schools said Illinois Central School bus is under contract with CPS, but bus aides are employed by CPS and vendors separately. The bus aide in this case was a CPS employee and was fired in January 2022 after an investigation and hearing, according to CPS.
CPS' official statement was as follows:
<blockquote>"Chicago Public Schools (CPS) prioritizes the safety and security of our students both in our classrooms and on their journey to and from school. We take seriously our responsibility to ensure all employees act in the best interest of our students. As a District, we take all allegations seriously and our team follows District policies and procedures as we respond to safety and employee misconduct issues.
"We do not comment on pending litigation."</blockquote>
The bus company says the driver was also let go after the company learned about the incident, and also said they can make no other comment because of ongoing litigation.
No legal action has been taken against the bus driver or attendant.