Suffolk mom has questions after school bus doors close on daughter, bus begins moving
SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Suffolk mom is left with questions after she said her daughter had the front doors of her school bus closed on her. It happened during afternoon drop off last Tuesday at the intersection of Smith Street and Bosley Avenue.
Laura Salaj was confused when her 11-year-old daughter came home from King’s Fork Middle School last Tuesday in hysterics.
“She came home crying and said that she had just had the worst thing happen,” Salaj said, recalling the incident.
The child told her she had the school bus doors closed on her after her bus driver was distracted by another student and didn’t look at the stairs before closing the door.
“My daughter was too in shock to even say anything,” Salaj told 10 On Your Side.
Salaj told us her daughter struggled to stay upright when the bus began moving and gripped the railing so she wouldn’t fall. She said she was stuck for around 60 seconds until the driver looked to the side and saw the girl lodged in the door.
“I was just like ‘I’m sorry, can you repeat that for me one more time?’ And she said ‘the bus driver closed the door on me,'” Salaj said. “The door was closed on me — on me, on my leg.’ She did have a bruise on her leg.”
Salaj said the driver asked her child if she was alright, but never apologized or notified herself or her husband.
“I was angry,” Salaj said. “I was obviously upset for her and trying to make sure that she was OK, but I was angry.”
She understands the pressure put on drivers due to staffing shortages, but wanted to share her daughter’s story to remind bus drivers to pay attention. Luckily, she said, her daughter wasn’t seriously hurt.
“I get looking over to make sure kids get across the street to the other side and making sure that they’re not getting hit by anything,” Salaj said, “but if you’ve got another kid that isn’t even off the bus yet, shouldn’t you make sure that they aren’t falling off the bus.”
A spokesperson for Suffolk Public Schools told us the following:
“Our SPS Transportation Team reviewed the video footage from the bus incident. The video does confirm the bus doors were closed and the student was briefly caught. However, the student was not caught in the doors at any time the bus was in motion. The driver never began moving.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
