Former Idaho school bus driver charged with injury to child

Anna Brown, the former bus driver for the Emmett School District, was charged last week with misdemeanor injury to a child, more than three months after a physical incident on a bus. An arrest warrant was issued on July 31st and Brown is free on a $500 bond that was posted last Friday.

Jennifer Harvey, the mother of the 9-year-old child involved, filed a police report, saying her son was assaulted while on Brown’s bus. Emmett police investigated the complaint and found cause for her arrest.

The case hinged on a video of the April 12 incident when the school bus driver physically and verbally confronted a student with disabilities. At one point in the 95-second video, the driver can be heard saying to the child, “I don’t care if I hurt you.” Brown then pulls the student out of his seat on the bus.

Emmett superintendent Wayne Rush told the Idaho Statesman that Brown resigned within a couple days of the incident.

The district released the video in April after initially rejecting the Idaho Statesman’s public records request. Harvey consented to its release, though Rush disputed the mother’s wishes.

“The student did not consent and 9-year-old children are not able to give consent to have their private information released and printed in the Statesman and posted on your Web pages,” Rush wrote to the Statesman. “They do not understand the consequences or the impact of this decision. The responsibility for protecting the privacy of our children rests with the adults and I believe that includes those working at the Statesman.”

No future court date has been set for Brown. She faces a maximum sentence of six months in county jail or $1,000 fine or both.