A white Georgia college bus driver has been charged after a cellphone video emerged of him pushing two black college students.
James O’Neil, a bus driver for the Morgan Nation Constitution Faculty System, was arrested Friday on two counts of straightforward battery over the alleged college bus confrontation, Morgan County Citizen reported.
Footage captured of the incident on Sept. 9 confirmed O’Neil telling a younger boy and his sister to go to the again of the bus. When the kids refuse to conform, he shoves them.
The motive force was fired from the college district after the footage went viral on-line, the outlet reported.
The youngsters’s mom, Nequania Carter, informed FOX5 that her son and daughter, ages 6 and 10, had been traumatized by the incident.
“My son is terrified, he was scared, he referred to as for his older sister as you could possibly hear he was crying … he was horrified … you’re presupposed to be defending him,” she stated.
“I don’t know why he informed them sit at the back of the bus as a result of the excessive schoolers sit again there and usually the primaries sit proper behind the bus driver.”
She stated the incident was not the primary time her household had complained about O’Neil and that she believed his actions had been racially motivated.
“I’ve by no means put my arms on a baby and I used to drive college buses too,” she stated.
“My youngsters don’t need to return to highschool … they don’t need to get again on the college bus.”
After O’Neil’s arrest, Carter and her husband, Blake, launched an announcement thanking their group for help within the week for the reason that upsetting confrontation.
“We're very relieved that fees had been filed and that no different mother and father have to fret concerning the security of their youngsters in terms of Mr. O’Neil,” they wrote.
“We actually admire the NAACP for all their help and help and in addition the help from the group.”
The Carters additionally confirmed that they'd completely eliminated their youngsters from the Morgan County college system, stating that they had been sad with the district’s preliminary response to the incident.
“We really feel like [O’Neil] was terminated as a result of the story received extra protection than the Morgan County Constitution Faculty System would have preferred,” Nequania Carter stated.
“It was rumored that they had been simply going to ship him to be retrained.”
The household additionally alleged that Alicia Lord, the college system’s transportation supervisor, ignored a number of households’ earlier complaints about O’Neil.
In the meantime, Morgan County Chief Deputy Keith Howard informed the Morgan County Citizen that police couldn't decide whether or not the confrontation was racist in nature primarily based on the three video and audio recordings they reviewed.
“Investigators took extra time to research all of the information to incorporate consulting with prosecutors within the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit,” he stated.
“Investigators couldn't set up a nexus that the incident was racially motivated.”
O’Neil spent a day in custody earlier than being launched on bond. He's awaiting a courtroom date, at which period he'll enter his plea.
The Carter household and the Morgan County Constitution Faculty System didn't reply to requests for remark. O’Neil couldn't be instantly reached.
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