Police are investigating after a father jumped onto the mirror of a moving school bus in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood and the driver kept going.
James Burdett says he was trying to get his young daughter off the bus, but the driver didn't stop.
"I was scared, my 5-year-old daughter's screaming at him, 'that's my dad, that's my dad,' and he still didn't care," said Burdett.
The father says he was banging on the bus door trying to get the driver to stop.
"He hit me in my leg, and after that I just grabbed on," said Burdett. if I didn't grab on he was going to run over me, he just kept going," said Burdett.
Police were called to the scene around 4:40 p.m. The students were let off the bus and Burdett went to the hospital to be treated for bumps and bruises.
"He did not stop the bus because at the time he felt as though it was not a safe environment for the children on the bus and himself," the driver claimed, according to a police report.
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But Burdett's mother says the same driver, who had 10 years experience but was new to the route, refused to stop at the bus stop the day before, possibly confused by the fact that there are two bus stops at both places that Woodbole Avenue and Woodruff Way intersect.
"We're the same parents that chased the bus down the day before, so there's no way that he wouldn't have known," said the child's grandmother, Carmen Nieves. "I filed a complaint and I did let them know what took place, and I thought that things would be rectified, and it wasn't."
Boston Public Schools said it "does not tolerate any kind of behavior that places people's lives in danger or compromises public safety. [The contractor that operates the district's buses] immediately removed the driver from service and placed him on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation."
"BPS is cooperating fully with the Boston Police Department, which responded to the incident and is currently investigating the matter," the district added in a statement.
"I think honestly they should just get rid of him," said Burdett. "Ten plus years, he understands what he's doing."
"I think he should be fired, I believe he should be fired," said Nieves.
Boston Police continue to investigate to determine if any charges will be filed.
A Boston Public Schools official says there were five children on the bus at the time of the incident and counseling was made available to them Friday.
