Special Needs Child Dies 2 Days After Falling From School Bus
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ)--A 6-year-old boy plunged to his death after pushing open an emergency door on a Baltimore City school bus. He was riding home from a special education school in Baltimore County.
Kelly McPherson has the tragic turn in the story WJZ first brought to you Thursday night at 11 p.m.
The boy's family says they took him off life support at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Jeremy Jennings Jr. was riding home to West Baltimore from Villa Maria at St. Vincent's School, a Catholic special education school in Timonium.
On that Wednesday afternoon, a fight broke out.
"An aide who was on the bus attempted to break up that altercation at which time the boy ran to the front of the bus and was unsuccessful in getting off the bus," said police spokesperson Lt. Rob McCullough. "At that time, he ran to the back of the bus."
When the child fell out of the emergency door, there were two aides on the bus at the time. One was assigned just to one child who had very special needs. The other aide was responsible for every other child on the bus.
A parent of a child from the same special needs school says the bus aides are overwhelmed and undertrained to handle the children's emotional issues.
"When they pull up in front of my house, the children are up out of their seats," said the parent who asked not to be identified. "They're yelling, they're screaming, they're running around. I've seen fights on the bus."
She says her elementary-age daughter was sexually assaulted on a bus two years ago by another student. At a meeting after the incident, she was told that bus assistants aren't trained in dealing with emotional disabilities.
Baltimore City schools handle the transportation to the county school.
The Maryland Disability Law Center says safe and proper school transportation is guaranteed under the law.
"If transportation staff needs training in order to be able to meet a child's needs, the school system should provide that training to staff," said Leslie Seid-Margolis, Maryland Disability Law Center.
Baltimore schools are working with police to investigate. The bus contractor did not return calls from WJZ.
