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The lawsuit, filed in Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in Portland, was brought to ensure the protection of students while under public supervision, attorney Charlene Rohny wrote. It seeks unspecified economic damages for medical, therapy and other expenses incurred by the child and mother, non-economic damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages. (Dave Killen|Staff)
(Dave Killen/Staff)
The mother of a 4-year-old special education student who was left sleeping unattended on an empty Tillamook County school bus is suing the school district in federal court for negligence and infliction of emotional distress.
The bus picked up the child from outside the family home at 7:30 a.m. March 19, 2015, for a ride to Head Start, according to the lawsuit filed by the child's mother, Laura Pozos Leon.
The driver, Gwen Russell, dropped off all the other students at other locations and never stopped at Head Start, instead parking the bus at the district transportation department's bus barn for repairs, the suit says.
The driver left the 4-year-old in the back of the bus about 8:15 a.m., the suit says.
The child was "confined inside the bus, strapped into a car seat, asleep, and unsupervised,'' wrote attorney Charese A. Rohny.
It wasn't until the mother showed up at Head Start for a scheduled student field trip about 9:10 a.m. that she learned her child never made it to school. She hadn't been notified by the school that her child hadn't arrived.
The mother called the bus driver from the Head Start building and demanded to know what had happened.
"Oh my God! ... I'll call you right back," the driver responded, and then hung up, according to the lawsuit.
A few minutes later, the driver called the mother back, notifying her that the child was found in the parked bus and would be transported to Head Start.
The child, identified only as M.D. in the suit, awoke in the bus, alone in an "unknown dark place, with no way to get out and with no one to help her,'' Rohny wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland, urges a judge to halt the Tillamook County School District from operating school buses for Head Start students or students with disabilities without requiring that another adult ride with students on each route and implementing other safeguards to ensure drivers make all stops on their routes and that buses are empty when they park in the transportation department's lot after completing routes.
The driver in this case, according to district procedure, was required to check the entire bus for cleanliness and the presence of any person or belongings before leaving the bus parked after her morning route. The driver also was supposed to leave a marker inside the windshield of the bus to verify the required check had been done, according to the suit.
In a statement shortly after the incident, the Tillamook County School District acknowledged that the driver had made a mistake.
"Although the District has clear policies and procedures in place to keep this specific incident from ever happening, a mistake was made by one of our most respected and caring bus drivers. As soon as the child was delivered to school, District personnel started working with the parent to alleviate any future concerns, as well as eliminate any chance of having the same thing happen to another student,'' the statement said. "New procedures and additional layers of protection have been implemented to protect against future incidents of this sort.''
The mother in this case also alerted police. The bus driver admitted to police that she had forgotten about the child and failed to follow procedures, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also names Northwest Regional Education Service District; Community Action Team Inc.; Tillamook Head Start; the bus driver Gwen Russell; Jay Marugg, transportation and maintenance supervisor for the Tillamook county School District; and Tillamook County School Superintendent Randy Schild as defendants.
A call to the school district was referred to the superintendent. Schild said he only learned of the lawsuit on Monday and could not comment.
It's unclear if the driver faced any discipline. Rohny said the driver remains on the job.
The suit, brought partly to ensure the protection of students while under "public supervision and care,'' seeks unspecified economic damages for medical, therapy and other expenses, non-economic damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages
-- Maxine Bernstein
mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonian