Columbus bus driver accused of kicking boy

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former school bus driver has been charged with assault based on witness statements that he placed his foot in the back of a verbally abusive third-grader and pushed the boy down the vehicle’s steps to the ground.

When the boy refused to move to the correct seat at the front of the bus, driver Stephan Beasley picked up the 10-year-old and carried him down the aisle, with the boy’s head striking bus seats, witnesses said in a school district investigator’s report.

Beasley then kicked the boy off the Columbus Public Schools bus, threw the boy’s book bag on top of him and said, “Now your parents can come and pick you up,” according to the witnesses, who included numerous children and at least two adults. Beasley then drove off with the other students.