POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A disturbing confrontation between a Powhatan school bus driver and a 7-year-old special needs student lands the driver in jail. The May 5 assault was captured on cameras inside the bus.
“Just hearing about it is bad enough, but it was truly awful to see that done to your son,” says the child’s father Lane Kelly.
The video is painful to watch. First, the driver screams at the child then she slaps him in the face.
The boy’s parents say their autistic son was traumatized by what happened. He told them the driver hit him.
The couple complained to the school, an investigation began and once they pulled video from the bus cameras, the driver lost her job.
“It’s challenging being the parent of a special needs child,” explains Kelly, “But having it turn into something like this is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
The school bus driver, 44-year-old Pamela Weeks, pled no contest to charges of assault and battery against the child.
On Wednesday, a judge sentenced her to three months in jail for a misdemeanor against what he called the most vulnerable victim.
“It would have better for me personally if there had been an apology for what happened which there wasn’t but yes we’re satisfied,” adds the child’s mother, Sherri Kelly.
Because this was a misdemeanor, Weeks could have gotten off without any jail time. As it is, she will likely only serve 45 days, which is half of her three month sentence.
She’s also been ordered not to have any kind of supervisory role with children for the next three years.
