A school bus driver in western Pennsylvania has been charged with child endangerment after he let two students on his route fight to the point that one was bleeding last month.
Police charged Braden Matthew Hollis, of Baden, Pa., with endangering children after reviewing surveillance tapes from March 4. The footage shows a fight break out in the back of the bus between an 18-year-old female and a juvenile male student. Hollis is reportedly heard saying, "Clear the aisle and let them fight."
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Several students also reportedly notified Hollis of the fight, but he failed to intervene.
"Students were just screaming," student Taylor Miller told WTAE.com. "He just stayed at the front of the bus."
New Sewickly Township Police say the 18-year-old was later seen talking to Hollis with blood on her arms, and the video shows the boy sitting in the back of the bus with a bloody nose. His parents complained to the school district, which then contacted police.
Hollis did not report the incident to the school district or the bus company, R.J. Rhodes Transit.
Police charged Hollis under a law requiring guardians or those in a position of trust to care for children. He is due in court next month.
The 18-year-old student who was involved in the fight was charged with reckless endangerment, simple assault, and harassment. She is due in court Thursday.
Some people sympathized with Hollis.
"As a school bus driver, I have to ask: Does anyone who has never driven anything bigger than a car or SUV know what it is like to drive a 40 foot long, 30,000 lb. vehicle that is 2 feet wider than many cars, with kids fighting on-board? Sometimes there just isn't a hell of a lot you can do," user Kurt commented on a CBS Pittsburgh story.
Others think he deserves to be punished.
"If it's on tape and the kids are saying it, I hate to say it, it's probably true," Bryan Yeck, a parent in the district, told WTAE.com. "I'm not a fan of that by any means, I think he should be punished."
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