The parents of eight children allegedly abused by a school bus driver “by means akin to torture” have sued the driver, Lexington School District Two, its superintendent, and the S.C. Department of Education in federal court.
Seven of the students were special needs children, and one was an older sibling. The children’s ages range from 4-12.
The lawsuit alleges that District Two; its superintendent, Brenda Hafner, and the Department of Education had a duty to provide safe transportation for schoolchildren “made vulnerable by way of disability” — as well as proper training for school bus drivers on how to discipline children — and failed to do so.
The driver, Patricia Douglas, is alleged to have created a “dangerous condition” that inflicted harm upon the children, according to the lawsuit.
Last May 7, when the temperatures were above 90 degrees, Douglas punished the children for making noise by turning off the air conditioner for over 20 minutes in the passenger compartment in the bus, the lawsuit alleged.
“The resulting heat in the bus caused seizures, overheating, heat exhaustion, nausea, mental trauma, and other health issues for these minors,” the lawsuit said.
“While doing this, (Douglas) verbally harassed the children stating ‘I will cut the A/C off and burn you up’ and ‘There you go, enjoy’ and ‘Don’t ask me to cut it back on’,” the lawsuit said. At the same time, Douglas left her air conditioning on, the lawsuit said.
The school bus had a recording system on it, and the children can be heard yelling things like, “Don’t burn us,” the lawsuit said.
The children suffered from a range of disabilities including epilepsy, ADHD, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, intellectual disability, autism, speech and language impairments, and anxiety, the lawsuit said. At the time of the incident, they were being transported from Wood Elementary School on a special needs public school bus, the lawsuit said.
“The horrific actions at issue in this case show a systematic failure of Defendants to adequately train, retain, and/or have policies and procedures in place to prevent school bus drivers like Patricia Douglas from intentionally implementing punishments that amount to torture and infringe upon the constitutional rights of the most vulnerable children in the Defendants’ care,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also quotes Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon, who said in a blog post warning about the dangers of heat to children in closed vehicles, “in just 10 minutes a (car) can heat up by 20 degrees, enough to kill a child.”
Douglas was arrested after the May 7 incident on 10 misdemeanor charges of cruelty to children by the South Congaree Police Department.
Charges against Douglas are still pending, but no trial date has yet been set, according to South Congaree police Chief Steven Jonas. She is free on bond.
Douglas’s attorney, Dayne Phillips, declined comment.
Lexington District Two school officials said in an email Thursday, “District administration has not yet seen a copy of the lawsuit. However, the district does not comment on matters involving pending litigation.” Officials did say that Douglas is no longer employed by the District.
The Department of Education declined comment “due to the pending litigation.”
Plaintiffs in the case are Akera Allen, the parent and natural guardian of three children; Melissa and Timothy Derosier as parent and natural guardian of two children; and Cassandra Alvarez as parent and natural guardian of three children. The children are not identified by complete name in the complaint.
Lawyers for the children’s parents are Will Lewis, Grace Babcock and Joseph Leventis.
Lawyers for the School District, Douglas and the Department of Education are not yet listed in the federal court index.
Federal Judge Sherri Lydon will preside over the case.
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