Dillon County sheriff confirms arrest tied to ‘incident’ that led to bus drivers not working on Thursday

DILLON, S.C. (WBTW) — Dillon County authorities confirmed that an arrest has been made in connection with an “incident” earlier in the week that prompted District 4 school bus drivers to take off work on Thursday.

Sheriff Jamie Hamilton did not release any additional information about the arrest or details about what happened.

Meanwhile, the school district said Thursday afternoon on its website that buses will be transporting Dillon School District Four students to their respective schools on Friday. The district asked parents to be “patient” after the drivers did not work on Thursday.

“We had some bus drivers that did not drive today due to an incident that happened Wednesday afternoon,” Superintendent Ray Rogers said Thursday morning in a statement. “We have been working on some solutions to help with bus driver safety and student behavior! We feel that we have made major strides in communication so that we are all on the same page. We need the help of all our parents as we work together for our kids.”

In a phone interview with News13 late Thursday morning, Rogers said he did not have firsthand details about the incident and directed questions to the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office.

Rogers also told News13 in the phone interview that parents have “verbally abused” drivers in the past and that “it’s time for that to stop.” He acknowledged that some parents have complained about late buses but explained that because of a shortage of drivers, the district has had to double-up some routes, which has led to some delays.

Rogers said some drivers did drive Thursday and that he expected things to return to normal on Friday. He added that there was “pretty good attendance” on Thursday despite the situation involving the bus drivers.

“We’ve got to work together for the kids and for the safety of the bus drivers,” he said. “The most precious thing in our lives is our kids.” He also said, “Everyone’s got to work together for the benefit of the kids.”

The school district posted to its Facebook page on Thursday morning that it was hiring bus drivers. Rogers later encouraged people to apply, explaining that the state has a pay scale for those jobs and the district pays above that pay scale.

He added that drivers go through a lot of testing and training to get the proper license to drive a school bus.

This is a developing story. Count on News13 for updates.

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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here .

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Dennis Bright is the Digital Executive Producer at News13 . He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook , X, formerly Twitter , and read more of his work here .

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