PA: School bus driver charged in brake-stomping incident

By Bill Vidonic, Times Staff
Published: Monday, November 24, 2008 10:44 PM EST
http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/11/25/news/doc492b6dc95094a301181815.txt

HARMONY TWP. — An R.J. Rhodes Transit bus driver was charged Monday with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and reckless driving, accused of slamming on his bus brakes and sending about 25 pupils flying into the seats in front of them.

Charges were being mailed to William J. McCartney, 68, of 1099 Ray Road, Harmony Township.

Harmony Township police said that on Nov. 18, one of the youngsters was apparently kneeling in his seat when McCartney told him to sit down “before I put you down.”

The boy’s mother, Ellen Jones of Ambridge, identified her son as a fourth-grader at Highland Elementary School in Ambridge. She would not name him, and his name was blacked out in a police report.

The boy moved to another seat, police said, and McCartney said, “If you do it again, I’ll knock you down.”

When the boy moved to another seat, police said, McCartney slammed on the brakes to his bus as it traveled down a hill on Route 989 in Harmony Township, sending youngsters flying.

Children hit the seats in front of them or went spilling onto the bus floor, police said.

Jones said when pupils told McCartney they were going to tell what he did, he stopped the bus and approached her son, with his fists clenched, and said: “Say something now, boy. I’ll punch you, boy.”

In the complaint filed against McCartney, Harmony Township Police Chief Jack Lively wrote that surveillance video shows McCartney stopping the bus and leaving his seat. Lively also wrote, “Threats from the driver, William McCartney, toward one student.”

Lively said Monday that McCartney’s voice can be heard on the surveillance video.

Police did not release the surveillance video. Lively said there were no reports of treatable injuries among the pupils, but added several parents said their children suffered brush burns from when their faces hit the seats.

Lively said Monday that he told Rhodes’ safety manager he didn’t want McCartney driving a bus, but Rhodes had already taken him off his route when reports of the incident began to surface.

Ambridge Area School Board President Bernard Logan said last week that district officials were reviewing the incident.

Jones said her son was suspended from the bus after the incident.

A woman at McCartney’s home said he was sleeping and couldn’t talk. He did not return a phone message left on his answering machine.

Bill Vidonic can be reached online at bvidonic@timesonline.com.