Charges in Appomattox school bus assault on 10-year-old certified

For an hour Monday morning, a juvenile court judge watched video of two 15-year-old boys scream at and assault a 10-year-old on a bus ride home from school.

 “These little kids are going to find out they can’t play with the big boys,” former Appomattox County schools bus driver Nancy Davis was heard saying in the video.

Davis, 64, is charged with felony child neglect in connection with the May 5 incident. At the end of her preliminary hearing, Judge Marvin Dunkum ruled enough evidence was presented to send the case to the grand jury for consideration.

The video footage came from a camera mounted in the front of the bus, which transports children from the Rivermont School in Lynchburg to their home district in Appomattox County. Centra Health operates the school, which is for children with emotional, behavioral and learning difficulties who are referred there by their home divisions.

Over the course of the video, the younger boy can be heard intermittently screaming “stop,” and “no.” At times, Davis, orders the older boys to leave the younger child alone. But at other times — when one of the teens could be seen turned around in his seat apparently striking the boy, and in another when one of the teens is screaming and cursing the child — she did not intervene.

After separating two of the children, she later told the bigger boy to sit with the younger child and “make him quiet.”

In the video, Davis blamed the younger boy for the assault. She could be heard telling the child he was saying things he shouldn’t and was picking on the bigger boys.

The boy’s mother testified he had been riding the bus since March. She said the day after he was first assigned to the school, her son came home complaining of bullying on the bus. She testified she confronted Davis four times — in March, twice in April and in May. The first time, she said, Davis denied knowing about the bullying. She subsequently told the boy’s mother he was causing the problems, not the older boys.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Les Fleet acknowledged that the bus camera faced behind Davis as she drove, but she could see and hear the boys fighting. At one point, he said, she was heard telling one boy to turn around in his seat, and she acknowledged the shouting several times during the video.

Davis had a duty to care for the boy as the only adult on the bus, the prosecutor said, and she should have checked on him at some point during the hour-long drive, particularly during three separate stops to let off other children.

“With all the screaming and chaos, she should have gone back… gotten out of her seat,” he said.

The boy’s mother testified her son had been seeing a counselor twice a week before the bus incidents. Now, she said, the boy has to see a counselor every day and has twice been committed to a pediatric psychological ward for weeklong stays because of the trauma.

Joseph Sanzone, Davis’ lawyer, said his client should have handled the incident better but was doing what she could while safely driving the bus.

He noted other school districts provide a monitor on the buses from the Rivermont School because of behavior problems. He also argued the felony neglect charge required the prosecutor to show evidence of actual physical harm or that the boy’s life was in danger.

Dunkum, citing case law, said it was only necessary to show the boy was at risk of harm. He said the video showed, “just plain, disgusting behavior.”

In an earlier interview, Appomattox schools Superintendent Dorinda Grasty said Davis had been terminated. Grasty said the school district required staff, including bus drivers, to undergo anti-bullying training.

After the hearing, an attorney for the victim’s mother said it was premature to say whether a civil lawsuit would be filed, but it was a consideration.

The grand jury is set to meet on Sept. 6 to consider an indictment against Davis.