Bus Driver Forces Elementary Students To Sit On Hot Bus With Windows Rolled Up As Punishment


A school bus driver has resigned after an incident that caused one elementary student to fall ill. The Lebanon, Ohio, bus driver is accused of forcing students to sit on a hot bus with their windows rolled up in 90 degree weather as punishment for being rowdy.

According to Fox News, police say the driver picked up the children at two elementary schools and was near a junior high when the driver pulled over and forced the children to sit in the 90 plus degree weather. The incident caused an 11-year-old student on the bus to become ill.

WLWT reports that the 11-year-old student who goes to Berry Intermediate School came home feeling tired, lethargic, and had a headache. The girl’s father said:

“She gets headaches but she’s not usually lethargic. She just came home and wanted to go to bed and ended up staying in bed until 8 o’clock (pm).”

The incident happened on Monday, but the parents of the child said they were not informed of the actions taken by the bus driver until Tuesday. When the girl told her parents about the incident, her father says:

“She said that the kids were being rowdy and wild and the bus driver pulled over to the side of the road and told everyone to put up their windows and said he was going to leave them sit there until their brains melted.”

The parents said they made sure to question their daughter and asked her numerous times if what she was saying was 100 percent accurate, when their daughter stuck to her guns, they contacted the local Lebanon police.

Lebanon police Sgt. Dave Gehringer said the driver, Benjamin Spaulding, allegedly picked up more kids at Bowman Elementary School and shortly after that is when the he pulled over in front of the junior high school and told the kids to roll up their windows and sit. The bus driver has since resigned following the incident.

The Lebanon police department has not yet pressed charges against the driver, but the department is hoping more parents and children will come forward about the incident so police can press charges. Gehringer says:

“As far as pressing charges, I would like to see something on his record where he can’t work with children, elderly or disabled anymore.”

Spaulding isn’t the first bus driver to face legal charges for actions taken on a bus. Recently, a school bus driver driving a bus carrying 20 children got busted for a DUI.

What do you think the punishment should be for the bus driver who left the children in a hot bus with the windows rolled up for 20 minutes?

Share this article: Bus Driver Forces Elementary Students To Sit On Hot Bus With Windows Rolled Up As Punishment
More from Inquisitr