3 Parents Charged Following Confrontation With Connellsville School Bus Driver
By: Shelley Bortz/KDKA-TV News
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) -- Three parents now face charges following an incident involving a Connellsville school bus driver this month.
Some of those parents said they have no regrets after they were charged. Investigators said that they contributed to total chaos on a stopped school bus earlier this month. KDKA's Shelley Bortz talked to one father who said he was simply defending his children.
Jerome Stout said he was doing what any parent would do.
"Got a call from my daughter, and there was like a panic in her voice. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but I knew something was wrong," Stout said.
Stout said he was headed home from work when he got that call from his daughter. When he heard the panic in her voice, he said that he didn't even think. He just jumped into action.
"As a parent, your only job is to raise these children and protect them at all costs," he said.
He is now facing misdemeanor charges. Connellsville police charged Stout and two other parents, Tavin Brown and Kayla Leon.
Investigators said the parents went to the bus after the driver pulled over on the side of the road because some students were being unruly. Stout said when he reached his daughter's bus, full of 5- to 11-year-olds, the driver let him on but wouldn't let him off.
"He just wouldn't open the door. So, yeah, that's when I forcibly opened the door from the inside to get me and my children off the bus," Stout said.
Police said Stout pushed the door from inside while Brown kicked and punched it from the outside. As more parents arrived, police said, total chaos ensued.
Captain William Huss said, "They were the three major proponents. They kind of took a bad situation and escalated it even more so."
Stout said that may be, but he'd do it again.
"I'd do the same thing over and over and over again. They're my children I love them," he said. "I never want to see them hurt."
The bus driver was cleared of any wrongdoing. No preliminary hearings have been set.