Last December Tara Keener did what most any mother would do when she thought her 5-year-old son was in trouble: She raced to help him. Only because it was onto a school bus that she raced, she now faces criminal charges that could potentially land her a year in jail, just for trying to save her son.
The emergency room nurse was walking down her driveway when she saw her son, Xander, slumped over in his seat and other children crowding around him. She says the children were yelling, “Help, he’s not moving. We can’t wake him up.”
When she attempted to board the bus, the driver informed her it was illegal, which is news to me, and did nothing to stop Keener from going to help her son. Wouldn't you?
Fortunately, little Xander was just in a deep sleep, but there are plenty of things that could have been wrong to cause him to appear so despondent -- choking, a concussion, or plenty of other unthinkable things. Despite her good and totally understandable intentions, the driver reported Keener to police. She was charged with unlawfully entering a school bus and is currently awaiting trial. While it's a third-degree misdemeanor, it can come with a penalty of $2,500 and a year in jail.
Ridiculous, right? Not so. Perry County District Attorney Charles F. Chenot III told The Patriot-News:
The bus company’s main point is, we can’t let one person do this because pretty soon you’ll have all kinds of parents on there. Most parents aren’t a problem, but what do you do when a ... sex offender wants to get on the bus and get his kids off? We need to have that protection in place.
Protection, yes, but a little common sense would be nice too instead of blanket policies and rules that take none into account. Hopefully a jury will see the ludicrous nature of this "offense" and realize Keener was just acting like a protective mother. I'd like to say I can't imagine them doing anything else, but I also could have never imagined that someone would be charged just for trying to save her son.
Did you know it was illegal to board a school bus? Do you think this mother should be punished?
Image via Cast a Line/Flickr
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Comments 291
If the bus driver had such an issue with the mother boarding the bus why didnt she respond to the children when they were asking for help? The kids were yelling "help he wont wake up!!" Why didnt the driver get up and check on the child?
I hope the mother fights this tooth and nail and wins... Here you have a mother actually trying to do the right thing for their child and she is getting in trouble...this is a shame... RIDICULOUS!!!!
Didn't know it was illegal. There should always be an exception to the rule like if your child was in danger and you deemed it necessary to enter the bus to save his life. The bus drive is lucky it didn't turned out wrong otherwise she should be sued up to her ass from preventing a mother saving her son's life. The school system should be sued for denying his mother the right to save her son's life.
I would fight and then sue them for being assholes.
This is going to trial? And taxpayers are going to foot the bill for something that any parent would do given the circumstances. And they say the courts are currently over crowded with cases waiting to be heard...I wonder why. We as a nation have lost our collective minds.
Actually, the good samaritan law protects her. As the most highly trained medical professional there, she had a right to take over the medical situation until paramedics arrived.
That is awful. Shame on the bus driver for reporting her. I would want to know why she was helping my child. I understand the law is to protect children from sex offenders and if it was a sex offender that was on the bus I could easily see the tables turned however the bus driver and school and law should have some empathy for the woman who was just protecting her child.
Never heard of this law, but given that bus drivers allow kid to beat on other kids these days without stepping in, there is a reason I drive my children to school.
I hope she has a great lawyer and that bus driver get punished and fired, and worse! I didn't think it was illegal to get on a school bus. Maybe it only is in some places. The mom was 100% right to board the bus to help her son. Shame on that bus driver!
What utter BS. Not only was she a parent, but a NURSE, for Pete's sake!
The drivers in my district have invited me onto the bus before, so I doubt it's a law in MI, either.