Sep 20, 2009 9:41 pm US/Central
2 Investigators: School Bus Insecurity
Ohio Company Faces Allegations It Hired Drivers Who Abused Or Endangered Students
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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First Student bus company faces accusations it hired drivers who abused students.
CBS
You put your children on a bus trusting that they will get to school safely, but disturbing issues are surfacing about one bus company that transports tens of thousands of Chicago area kids every day.
It started with a 5th grader named Brittany Barkwell, who was traumatized on her way home from school. Now CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini is exposing more trouble with the company -- all of it leading to a sense of school bus insecurity.
Brittany's family put its faith in the First Student Bus Company.
"I don't know if she is ever going to forget what happened -- if she is ever going to get over the anger?" Susan Barkwell, Barkwell's mother, wondered.
The 5th grader, who suffers from autism, was being bused from Wayne Bulita Elementary School in Bolingbrook to her Aurora home, when the driver went off his route in Naperville.
According to police reports, the bus driver took Brittany to a secluded area in the back of an apartment complex, where he allegedly exposed himself to her.
"They certainly didn't want the public to find out what the true story is," Susan Barkwell said.
She said says First Student was negligent about protecting a special-needs child.
"They should have had a monitor on that bus, or they should have known when he was going off track," Barkwell said. "It devastates us."
First Student officials declined an on camera interview so CBS 2 tracked down the bus driver, Ned Musselman, 73, of Naperville. According to police reports, he called students like Brittany "damaged kids."
"I don't know why God made people like this," he said to Savini.
"Where does a bus company come up with people like that to drive a bus with special-needs children?" Barkwell said.
Musselman denies exposing himself to the child. When Savini asked him whether he did it, he responded, "absolutely not."
First Student has been in trouble before. Two years ago the Ohio-based company was the subject of a state investigation which led to Columbus schools shutting down for a day when it was caught failing to do mandatory criminal background checks on its drivers. One bus driver had three DUI convictions.
Last year in Indiana, First Student officials were fired after police cited them for repeatedly failing to repair unsafe buses.
This year in Illinois, Brittany's alleged assault is one of three cases involving alleged crimes.
In May, police shot and killed a First Student driver after a high speed chase in Riverdale. Also in May, a driver for a Plainfield school was busted with child porn.
"This could not have happened in a well-run company," said the Barkwell's attorney, Shawn Collins. "All the things that were supposed to be in place to protect kids like Brittany weren't."
"I would like to see First Student held accountable so that this never happens to another child again," Barkwell said.
Even the accused bus driver Ned Musselman says First Student cut corners on safety measures like bus monitors and failed to train him to properly secure seat belts, which is what he claims he was really doing to Brittany Barkwell.
The company's Website says it will "at all times" provide bus monitors for special-needs students.
First Student officials say they have strengthened their internal background checks and corrected bus maintenance issues in Indiana.
All the Illinois drivers in this story passed checks, including Musselman. First Student did not speak about his case because of pending legal matters.
Statement From First Student Bus Company
A lawsuit is expected to be filed in this case on Monday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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