Peoria school bus driver caught in viral video yelling at 8-year-old student

PEORIA (25News Now) - In the video, you can hear the bus driver say the “F” word at least three times and tell the boy to “sit there” and take the verbal abuse.

The boy’s mother also shares with us another video her other son took that day and she says she’s upset a grown man would talk to her son like that.

“Today, I had to pick him up from school because he was crying and wouldn’t stop crying,” Jodie Petty says.

It’s been three days since the video was sent to Jodie Petty from her daughter showing her brother being yelled at by their bus driver on the way home from school Monday.

It was recorded by his twin sister 4 minutes before they were supposed to be dropped off at the end of the school day.

His mother saw the video and then confronted the bus driver.

Petty says she “went out to the bus and I told the bus driver that I had the video. He did apologize to me. He said he was sorry, and it was inappropriate, when I said I was turning in the video, he said that my son wasn’t going to be riding the bus much longer.”

According to a spokesperson from Peoria Public Schools, they can neither confirm nor deny the driver’s suspension.

The school’s policy says if staff is disciplined without pay - they receive a dismissal hearing and they are allowed to appeal the board’s decision within five days.

Further, a person may be suspended with or without pay during an investigation into allegations of misconduct.

”My son’s school directly called me back and apologized and they said that the bus driver isn’t driving any route pending an investigation,” Petty says.

She adds her son is partially deaf and was born with a respiratory health condition.

She says what makes this even worse is her son was being bullied right before the video was recorded and it’s been going on for about the last month.

“He has hearing loss and he’s kind of behind for his age like learning-wise. He had a lot of medical problems. We used to spend a lot of time in the hospital. He just had a Laryngeal Cleft repair surgery which fixed it so he actually now has regular drinks by mouth.”

As of now, she hasn’t heard anything from the school district, but she says the damage has already been done.

”I think that he probably needs a little time and not riding the bus the rest of the school year would probably help him.”

Petty says she’s considering driving him to school until the end of the school year next week. She’s upset knowing the school is supposed to be a safe place for her kids, and in this moment: they weren’t.

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