Former Douglas County school bus driver facing 30 child abuse charges accused of slamming on brakes

A Castle Rock man and former Douglas County School District bus driver is facing 30 misdemeanor child abuse charges for allegedly slamming on the brakes and sending students into the backs of the seats in front of them.  

The charges follow an internal investigation by the school district into the substitute bus driver which included video of Brian Fitzgerald, 61, brake-checking the students while he filled in for another driver. The investigation by the district and Fitzgerald's criminal charges were first reported by KRDO in Colorado Springs.  

"It really made my stomach turn," said Lauren Thomason, a parent of one of the students on the bus.  

On March 1, bus route 207 was far from normal for students at Castle Rock Elementary, starting with these stern words from the man behind the wheel.  

"You guys need to be in your seats," he said in a video from inside the bus, obtained by CBS News Colorado.  

Seconds later, the video shows substitute driver, Brian Fitzgerald, take it a step further, escalating from words to action at 9 miles per hour. 

"You guys want to see how dangerous that is?" he said before hitting the brakes suddenly. "Do you get that? That's why you need to be in your seats. Turn around and sit down properly." 

The kids, ranging from kindergarten to 6th grade, appeared in shock. One even picked up the phone and appeared to call a parent.

At a stop later on in the route, a different parent even talked with the driver about what had happened.  

"Is she alright?" Fitzgerald asked the parent.  

"Yeah, she was hurt though. Might go easy on the brakes," the parent said.  

"They were bouncing all over the place and I was coming to a stop, and I hit the brakes hard because they were running all over the place," Fitzgerald responded.  

Lauren Thomason's 4th grader was on the bus that day. She says he came running home, frantic and shaken.   

"He was shaking, in tears, hysterical," Thomason said. "He just said the bus driver, the bus driver, he hit the brakes and I hit my head and my buddy he's bleeding."  

Thomason said she quickly heard from other parents whose kids had similar stories, so she reached out to the district. 

"Every parent is like, 'I'm going to turn this car around, or don't make me hit the brakes,' but you don't actually do it because you know that that could hurt your child or any child," she said.  

Records from Douglas County Schools show the district investigated the incident, finding "it's clear the driver did brake check the students."  

While Fitzgerald, who was hired in the fall and had little experience driving a general education bus, apologized in a letter to supervisors, he was fired. 

"The video is incredibly difficult to watch. Riding a bus to and from school should be a happy, enjoyable experience for students. The behavior and actions of this bus driver are completely unacceptable," said DCSD spokeswoman, Paula Hans. "We are so grateful to the parents and the principal who reported this incident, allowing us to take swift action and ensure this driver was never again allowed behind the wheel of a DCSD bus." 

Fitzgerald is also now facing 30 child abuse charges, one of which is child abuse with bodily injuries.  

Thomason is happy with the response, but now has bigger questions. 

"We're really short in support staff, so are we just desperate now?" she asked. "Are we lowering our standards? Are we not really doing the background checks?"