Springfield, Illinois – On December 9, 2019, around 4:14 p.m., Springfield Police were called to 2300 E. Pine St. for a disturbance.
When police arrived they began to talk to a woman, who stated that she was irate because the school bus company, First Student, would not allow her to remove her child from the inside of the bus. The woman admitted to police that she damaged the stop arm on the school bus, which was laying in the front yard of a residence. The woman stated that she was called by the daycare company who advised her that her child was not placed on the school bus. She stated she immediately left her house, with her mother and her family members to head to the day care. The woman then told police that in route to the daycare, she then received another phone call stating that her child was in fact placed on the school bus.
The mother was able to locate the bus in the 2300 block of E. Pine and parked her car in front of the bus. She then exited the passenger side of the vehicle and approached the school bus and demanded the school bus personnel to release her child to her. She stated that they refused to release her child to her, so she became irate and forcefully removed the stop arm of the school busing began to hit the door of the bus with the stop arm.
The officer then spoke to the school bus personnel, and the personnel told police that they had just dropped off a child near East Pine and South Pope St. As the bus was driving, a white sedan stopped in front of the bus and a woman exited the passenger side of the vehicle and began yelling about her child. The woman then demanded that the bus personnel release her child, but the personnel advised her that he needed identification in order to verify she was the child’s mother, per First Student’s policy. According to the personnel statement, the mother refused to show identification and became more irate and tore off the stop arm of the school bus and began to hit the door on the school bus. The school bus personnel advised her again that they needed to see identification to release the child, and the mother informed them that she did not have her ID on her at the time of the incident.
The school bus personnel also told police that they spoke with a supervisor at First Student and they did not want to press charges for criminal damage to the school bus, but they wanted the mother to pay for the damage she caused to the school bus.
The officer did speak with the child inside the school bus and asked if the woman was her mother, by pointing at the woman, and asking “is that your mommy?” The child confirmed it was, and the child was released to her mother on scene.
At this time, there was not an amount given by First Student for the damage of the School Bus Stop Sign.