A Boston school bus monitor is on leave after allegedly using force to restrain a young boy.
The bus monitor was caught on camera physically holding an 8-year-old boy in his seat. His older sister recorded the video on her cell phone as the siblings were on their way home from the Paul Dever School in Dorchester.
Attorney Matthew Hanson is representing the family.
"An 8-year-old child is seemingly not getting out of his seat in a manner that the bus monitor approves of, so the bus monitor gets very upset with him," Hanson told necn. "The boy is apparently eating a cheese sick and apparently takes it away from him and hits him with it."
After that, the boy starts to scream and tells the man to get off of him.
The incident happened just before April vacation, and when school reopened, the monitor was placed on paid administrative leave.
"Boston Public Schools considers the safety and well-being of its students and staff a top priority," a spokesman for Boston public schools told necn.
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Boston Police and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families are also involved in the investigation.
The family's attorney says the boy told his mother that the bus monitor has targeted him before and told his sister to look out for him.
That's why the girl recorded the incident.
"There were some complaints about this particular bus monitor in the past," Hanson explained. "Whether there were incidents in the past as severe as this one, we don't know, but this one is particularly disturbing."
The boy's mother says he no longer takes the bus and she now drives him to and from school.
At this point, no lawsuit has been filed. The family says it just wants answers.
