Fight Breaks out Between Worcester, Massachusetts, Parents, School Bus Driver

The driver was assaulted in front of screaming children after parents became upset

A fight broke out on a school bus in a Worcester, Massachusetts, after relatives complained the bus driver wasn’t letting students off the bus fast enough, police said.

Preliminary investigation showed that the bus driver was attempting to allow the kindergarten students off the bus first, police said in a release. Several parents became impatient and forced their way onto the school bus by prying open the doors and kicking in a window pane.

"I was one of them. I grabbed my child and she called the police. She locked all of the windows, she didn't want to let them go out. They were crying, they were saying help, screaming," parent Arelis Vasquez told NECN’s affiliate WHDH.

Police said several parents yelled profanities at the bus driver and made threats. The confrontation was caught on video.

A 16-year-old sister of one of the children entered the bus and punched the bus driver in the face, police said. That juvenile is charged with assault and battery. The bus driver was transported to the hospital but the severity of her injuries is unknown.

Worcester school safety liaison Rob Pazzella said the bus driver was following school safety procedures, which may have created the confusion that was caught on video by a parent and posted to Facebook. He said one woman came onto the bus and took her two children off, sparking the incident.

"From there, the bus driver became very concerned because it ultimately, it is her responsibility to make sure nobody is grabbing children," Pazzella said. "She decided to shut the door to regroup and to make sure that it was calm amongst all the parents and students."

Pazzella said the door and windows were shut for safety reasons and to make sure children were not leaving on their own.

"She was doing the right thing to make sure that none of these children were going to be let out to somebody not authorized to pick up the child," he said. "Any type of future possible situations going on, we will, along with the police, ask them, after they fully investigate this bus incident, from seizing the video of the bus, that we prosecute more people possibly," Pazzella said.

Worcester Police are investigating.

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