Mother is outraged, says her son with autism was assaulted on school bus

A local school district is investigating after one of its bus drivers was accused of abusing a special needs child.

It allegedly happened while a child was leaving Eastside Elementary School in Columbia County School District.

Lori Ratliff said her 11-year-old son Tyler is in the fifth grade and he is autistic. Ratliff said Tyler rides the school bus home with his siblings, but when he came home on Jan. 8, she noticed bruises all over his body.

STORY: Mother is outraged, says her son with autism was assaulted on school bus

“I was like, 'how did you do that?' He goes, 'I didn’t do it the bus driver did,'” Ratliff said.

She said when she went to the school the next morning she found out what happened to her son, and found out the incident was captured on video.

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“It was terrifying. She was tossing him around the bus. They said that she threw him into the windows and had him pinned up against the side of the bus,” Ratliff said.

The incident report from the school officer said a video from the school bus shows Tyler having an altercation with the driver after trying to retrieve his backpack. He then grabbed a broom from the back of the bus and that’s when things turned violent.

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“They said the back of the bus, the cameras weren’t working but he looks like he was pinned in the seat. Tyler said she had her knee in his stomach and had him down on the seat like that and that’s not proper either. I mean you just don’t do that,” Ratliff said.

The State Attorney’s office said that bus driver's actions were justified, considering how Tyler was acting leading up to the incident.

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Ratliff believes that bus driver lost her temper, and now she wants to make sure th driver doesn’t drive any special needs kids to and from school again.

"I mean, she could hurt somebody else’s child and I’m trying to prevent that," she said.

At last check the bus driver was placed on administrative leave.

It’s unclear if the incident is still under investigation or if the bus driver will be returning to that same position.

Cox Media Group