AVENTURA, FLA. (WSVN) - - Students were left shaken after a school bus monitor went on an angry, profanity-laced tirade, and one of those students caught the incident on video.
The cellphone footage sent ripples through an entire community, triggering investigations from Aventura Police and Aventura City of Excellence School (ACES) Charter School.
“[Expletive] if you touch me, I swear to God!” said the man working on the bus to the driver.
The father of Mia, the eighth grader at ACES who recorded the video, said he is upset with what his daughter had to endure on the ride home from school Wednesday.
Mia spoke with 7News about the incident on Wednesday.
“He looked like he was ready to hit someone,” said Mia, who didn’t want to show her face on camera.
She said she was on her way home from school on the bus when, she said, the bus aide started screaming at the driver.
“Run, run your [expletive] mouth to these [expletive] kids again,” said the aide on the video. “I’m talking to you, you passive-aggressive [expletive].”
“Get off the bus,” the bus driver said.
“[Expletive] you,” replied the aide.
City of Aventura spokesperson Evan Ross addressed the incident on Thursday.
“The behavior that we saw in that video is obviously completely unacceptable,” he said.
ACES is overseen by the city.
“We don’t want to prejudge anything or speculate on what might have caused it,” said Ross. “We only know what we saw, and what we saw was completely unacceptable behavior.”
Mia was among the students who pulled out their phones as the scene unfolded.
“I saw how bad it was. I felt like there should be like proof, like people should know that I’m on a bus, and he’s screaming crazy, like, it was violent. He was cussing at us,” she said. “We didn’t even do anything to him.”
After the driver refused to get off the bus, students were seen in the video becoming afraid and considering using the back emergency exit.
Mia’s video showed the aide lashing out at the students as well.
“Everything’s on video, sir,” a student is heard saying.
“I don;t give a flying [expletive],” said the aide.
“We thought he was going to finish screaming, but he kept going, and it was just scary,” said Mia.
Eventually, the students climbed over seats to exit through the front door.
“And I was like, ‘Could you move?'” said Mia, “and he’s like, ‘I’m not moving,’ and he started cussing. He’s like, ‘I hope you burn in hell, I’m not moving,’ and I had to climb over the seat, and he’s like, ‘If you touch me, I swear to God, I’ll touch you even harder.'”
Yaniv, Mia’s father, said he got a call from his upset daughter.
“He stood up, and he looked at her and them and, like, started cursing,” he said. “It was horrible. I mean, you don’t to get these phone calls from your kids or from anybody.”
Yaniv would like to see something done with this bus aide.
“The company that hired these guys should do much better work, checking their background, see if they can handle kids,” he said. “Kids are different, they’re special.”
The school put out a statement that read in part, “Administration and City Officials are aware of a disturbing video depicting an incident on bus 4 this afternoon. The incident was unfortunately witnessed by students and involved two employees of A1A [Transportation], our bus vendor. ACES students and employees were not directly involved. We will investigate fully…”
Both the bus aide and the bus driver have been removed from service while the investigation is underway.
On Thursday, the kids were taken to school with another bus driver as the principal waited for them to make sure they were OK.
Aventura Police said they have also opened an investigation into the incident.
“The police will make a determination as to whether or not what’s on those videos rose to the level of a crime,” said Ross.
Ross said the aide will not be able to work for the city anymore.
“There is nothing more important to the City of Aventura than the safety of the kids who go to these schools. The city immediately took action,” he said.
Meanwhile, the city said they are going to meet with the transportation vendor to determine next steps.
The bus vendor has since responded, calling the actions of the bus aide “unacceptable.” A1A Transportations also went on to mention they take matters like these very seriously and are conducting a full investigation.
Edward P. Flavin, vice president of External Communications for A1A Transportation released a statement. It reads in part, “The behavior of the monitor shown in the video is unacceptable… Both the driver and monitor involved on this route have been removed from service.”
Colleen Reynolds, a spokesperson for Aventura City of Excellence School, in a statement said, “We’ve been assured the individual in the video will never again be on any busses serving our schools.”
Aventura Police is asking for anyone who recorded additional video of Wednesday’s incident on the school bus to call them at 305-466-8989.
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