School bus incident probed

Jace Radke and Terry Webster

Thursday, March 2, 2000 | 11:29 a.m.

A sudden stop by a school bus that sent 11 elementary school children on an unexpected trip to the hospital Tuesday afternoon has left parents wondering if the stop was necessary.

Clark County School District Police continue to investigate why a bus driver dropping children off after school suddenly hit the brakes near Owens Avenue and Main Street, injuring students inside the bus.

"We're just starting the investigation into the incident," school police spokesman Sgt. Ken Young said. "We know it was a braking incident. We just don't know why the brake was applied at this point. Whether it was to dodge a car or what."

The bus was about to drop off homeless children who attend C.P. Squires Elementary School, 1312 E. Tonopah Ave., at MASH Village and the Shade Tree shelter just south of the intersection of Owens and Main.

Those children and their parents have said that the stop was not necessary and was done to discipline children who were being loud on the bus.

Parents were in a meeting with an investigator from a local attorney's office Wednesday and did not want to comment on the accident, but a source who had spoken with parents said they were angry about what had happened.

The children said that the driver had told them to be quiet and threatened to slam on the brakes, then the brakes were hit three times in a row sending the students crashing into the bus's seat backs, the source said.

American Medical Response took four children to University Medical Center Pediatrics after the accident, and the Las Vegas Fire Department transported seven children to Sunrise Hospital, AMR spokeswoman Kathi Rice said.

"According to our dispatcher, who was in radio contact with the paramedics, there were a lot of bumps and bruises," Rice said.

All of the children were treated and released from the hospitals.

MASH Village Director Ruth Bruland said she had heard about the accident from parents, but did not know much about it. She added that she had seen one boy from the accident in a neck brace.

Bruland said that the school district makes a special trip to pick up and drop off the children who live at MASH Village.

"I hope as this all plays out that it is not lost that the district makes the effort to get these children to and from school," Bruland said.

Any driver who deliberately slams on the brakes and hurts children should not be driving a school bus, said Edward Goldman, assistant superintendent for administrative operations and staff relations for the Clark County School District.

"I don't want them driving my children and they shouldn't be driving anyone's children," he said. "There are specific procedures they have to follow and they have to be very careful and cautious at all times."

Goldman added that in all fairness, the investigation has to be completed to determine if the accusations are true.

Ronald Despenza, the school district's transportation director, said this morning he still has not received a complete report on the incident and would not identify the driver, though he would say that the driver is a man. He said he did not feel comfortable commenting on the driver's length of service with the district or other details until the report is finished.

The full report will be released as soon as it becomes available, Despenza said.

"There may very well come a time when we will have to take appropriate action," Despenza said. "But the driver is innocent until proven guilty. We have to have a due process for our employees."

The driver was immediately removed from the route, but is currently being used on another route and is still being paid.

"We would not necessarily suspend someone without pay unless there is a battery charge," Despenza said.

A man who identified himself as an investigator for an attorney's office instructed parents not to talk about the accident as he left the MASH compound at 1559 N. Main St. Wednesday afternoon.

"We're in the very preliminary stages at this point, and I only have one side," the investigator said. "I still need to call school police."

The investigator would not identify himself or the attorney he works for.

Jace Radke is a reporter for the Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-2318 or by e-mail at jace@lasvegassun.com.

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