Stephanie WilkersonI'd like to say I can't believe it happened, but sadly, outrageously we see stories like this too often. This one happened last month in Tampa, Florida, when school bus driver Stephanie Wilkerson, 40, pushed an 8-year-old girl with autism off the bus, fracturing her ankle in the process.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, it happened on the way to school on September 28. When the girl was trying to get off the bus, Wilkerson told her to wait her turn. For some reason this caused the girl to get angry, and she supposedly slapped and pushed the driver. Obviously that's not acceptable behavior, but anyone who works with special needs children -- and any adult really -- needs to know that physically retaliating isn't okay. That's just what Wilkerson did though.
The paper reports that as the girl stopped on one of the stairs, Wilkerson took her foot and used it to kick the girl off the bus. The girl fell, and her ankle was broken in the process. Fortunately someone called an abuse hotline, and the incident was all caught on a surveillance camera installed on the bus, so it wasn't left to go unpunished ... as I fear too many of these incidents do when it comes to children with special needs.
Working with children who have autism isn't always easy; no one says it is. But there's no behavior or incident that ever makes it okay for an adult to physically abuse a child like this. None.
Fortunately, the school district isn't excusing the woman's actions because the girl was violent first. Steve Hegart, school district spokesperson, told the paper, "It doesn't matter what preceded it. That kind of behavior is not acceptable."
Wilkerson was arrested last week for the incident and faces felony charges of aggravated child abuse. I hope she is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It won't change what happened to this poor little girl, but we have to send a message that treating children -- any children -- in this manner is not okay and won't be tolerated.
Can you imagine this happening to your child?
Image via Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
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Comments 100
Glad she was arrested. She has no right to KICK a child off of a bus, whether that child hit her first or not. Thank God the little girl was not injured more seriously - although a broken ankle is still awful! - but what if she had hit her head on the concrete or something? The whole situation is just a damn shame and the Board of Education should really do personality assessments on all employees who work around children.
I feel like most of the children on the bus would have behaved more acceptably in this situation than this supposed adult. The bus driver should have let the girl off the bus and then went to her teachers to explain what happened.
Are you kidding? I have an autistic child and some times his lack of ability to express his emotions cause him to lash out.No, hitting people is not ok however, teaching as autistic child this can be an on going struggle. Unless you yourslef have had a special needs child or working with them you have no clue how hard it can be.
Lynn the child has autism, and if you have ever known someone with autism and even if you all of them are not the same.. for some it's really hard for them to control their emotions and often show them through anger.. the parents probably took care of that.. but like the man said no matter what happen the 40 yr old shouldn't have responded with violence.. I personally think that even if the child didn't have autism, it didn't give the driver rights to be violent back.. that's for the child's parents and school to decide how the child should be punished... I am seriously afraid to send my child to school with all these reports of teachers and drivers being violent like they have been here recently..