Parents outraged by bus driver's good deed

[Loonman]

http://www.nbc30.com/education/2835519/detail.html


EAST LYME, Conn. -- Parents of elementary school students were outraged Monday after learning that a driver of a school bus half-filled with children opened the door to a teenager with a knife wound on his neck.

The 17-year-old boy asked the driver to take him to a hospital and sat on the bus steps, The Day of New London reported. The driver, Teri Vaillencourt, radioed for help. The teen was on the bus for about a minute without incident until police and medical personnel arrived and took him to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, where he was given several stitches.

[latebloomer]

1. No good deed goes unpunished!

[ronnykmarshall]

2. GASP!

And not to mention that teenager was ............ <whispering> Latino!

Good god, the boy was cut and bleeding. What's the driver supposed to do?

[Archae]

Freeper parents.

"He shoulda let da little punk die!"

[Superfly]

3. You would be surprised how many people

would rather just speed by a person in need rather than "getting involved." It's times like those when my faith in the decency of people is shaken.

Then, there are stories like this, where that faith is restored.

[noonwitch]

10. I've seen people walk away from really bad stuff a couple of times

1. At the corner of Woodward and 7 Mile in Detroit, about 12 years ago. I was pumping gas and this guy was screaming at a woman, who appeared to be a prostitute (it was that kind of street corner). He hit her in front of me, I went into the gas station and asked the attendant to call the cops, because I thought it would be risky for me to do so from the pay phone, in plain view of the guy. He refused, and told me "I can't call the police every time a ho gets slapped". I went back out and the guy passed me on his way in to pay for his gas. The woman was sitting in his pickup, with the window open. I asked her if she was okay and if she needed any help, and she said no, so I left it. But the attendant really bugged me with his attitude.

2. In Elkhart, IN, my sister and I were leaving a department store in the downtown area. We were walking to our car and this couple was walking toward us. All of a sudden, the woman started slapping the guy around. Both of them looked really wasted, but the guy wasn't fighting her, he was almost crying. My sister and I started yelling at her to stop, and asked some nearby businessmen if they could call the police from inside their office, and they refused. There was a dance class of little kids getting out at the moment, I couldn't believe that those guys wouldn't call. They were laughing about it.

People are amazing in their denial about some things. These complaining parents must be pretty cold-blooded to hold it against a bus driver for helping a seriously injured person.

[methinks2]

4. sometimes the act is the only reward

but your own good conscience should be reward enough.

[Westegg]

5. Wow. Amazing story. I understand parents' concerns...

...about their own children. But I daresay that seeing an actual, live life-lesson from the Bible (The Good Samaritan) might be worth more to those kids on the bus than the (perceived) danger from picking up a wounded stranger. That driver should get a medal---or better yet, a raise.

[TrogL]

6. I'm going to go with the minority on this one

I wouldn't want the teenager on the bus for several reasons.

• He's bleeding. There's a chance of exposure to blood carried stuff like HIV/AIDS
  
• He's not supposed to be on the bus. The driver is supposed to be keeping strangers out. The parents signed a contract saying so.
  
• The bus driver's got a radio and used it to good effect.
  
• Whoever cut the teenager could still be around and be a threat.
  

The bus driver's business is with the students first, others second.

[Noon_Blue_Apples]

7. points 1 & 2 are not valid (IMHO)

3 & 4 certainly are. My first thought was 4.

Bill

[Dogmudgeon]

9. What?

School busses are public conveyances paid for with tax money. They are also supposed to be used, when required, for dealing with emergencies (at least in most municipalities of which I'm aware). I've also never heard of parents signing a bus contract, but it might just be the state I live in.

Is there an AIDS threat from the blood? Probably as much of a threat as for kids walking to school. If AIDS was suspected, it would pose no problem to assist the children off the bus out the emergency exit.

The threat of the criminal still being around? At that point, if the bus driver fled, leaving the victim behind, the municipality would be on the hook. For this episode, you'd have to question the driver to see how the risk was assessed. For opportunistic crimes like the one here, the assailant typically strikes and flees.

Being concerned when it comes to children is laudable, but the situation was one of zero-to-low risk to the kids. The bus driver decided to not invoke CYA and the crime victim survived. All bus drivers are, or should be, trained in first aid, traffic safety, and basic public-transport risk assessment.

--bkl

[Rainbowreflect]

8. And how would the parents feel if it was their child that was hurt

and standing on the side of the road?