NEW ORLEANS – The school bus driver said parents told her they were angry about a bullying incident they say happened on the bus. The driver said she wants them to face charges.
“It was horrible,” school bus driver Andrea Anderson told WVUE. “They approached the bus. They pushed past other students, you know, knocking them down.”
Anderson said as she dropped students off, some parents were waiting for her. In a cell phone video from a passenger on the school bus, you see the parents on board the bus confronting Anderson. Then the bus driver attacked and dragged them off the bus and continued to beat and kick her at the bus stop because they were angry about an alleged bullying incident that took place on the bus.
They also ripped off her bright yellow driver’s vest and threw it on the ground. Anderson told the news outlet that she had been unaware of any incident involving bullying on her bus before the attack. Anderson also explained that there was very little she could do to protect herself because any attempt to drive away would have potentially injured the children.
You know, but you decide with your childish mind to come to a bus stop and fight a school bus driver like I’m not going to press charges, because hey, I want all three of them in jail.
Anderson said she’s recovering from injuries from the fight, and though traumatized by what happened, she said she will return to work. “I love my job. I do want to go back simply because it’s a good timeframe for my children”, she said.
The New Orleans Police Department said the investigation regarding the incident was ongoing. The school district, to which the bus belongs, remains unknown. The names of the parents have not been released, nor has it been made clear if all three have children on Anderson’s route and where those children were at the time.