School bus driver busted after video shows student punched, throttled: ‘I’m going to beat your ass’
A Missouri school bus driver was arrested and fired after video showed him allegedly punching and throttling a seventh-grader, leaving the young student with cuts and bruises to his face and neck.
Scott Robert Livingston, 67, was charged with misdemeanor assault for the attack he blamed on being “irritated” at the middle schooler having “mouthed off” to him on the bus last Thursday, according to court documents obtained by Fox 4 KC.
“Sit down or I’m going to beat your ass,” he yelled at the boy, who was seen in the video being pinned to a seat and repeatedly hit and even throttled, according to the court docs.
Livingston initially locked the doors and drove away when a school security officer ordered him off the bus. The substitute driver later told cops he was “trying to scare” the boy, “not hurt him,” according to the documents.
But the boy, Zachary Carrel, was left with cuts on his face and bruises on his neck, his outraged family told KCTV.
“He was helpless, there was nothing he could do,” Carrel’s mother, Nicole Danna, told KCTV.
“He had a grown man on top of him, choking him and punching him repeatedly in the face.
“No child should have to go through that.”
The incident began shortly after dismissal from Heritage Middle School in Liberty when Carrel says he was joking around with friends while boarding the bus home. Livingston told cops he grew “irritated” at being “mouthed off,” the documents say.
After the driver shouted, “Sit down or I’m going to beat your ass,” the boy replied, “You can’t touch me,” according to the court documents.
Livingston then marched to the back of the bus, which was still parked on school property, and grabbed the young pupil.
Carrel pleaded with the driver to “get your f–king hands off me,” but Livingston instead put his hands around Carrel’s neck and started squeezing, the court documents allege.
The boy managed to push Livingston into the seat opposite from him, but Livingston recovered and flipped the student upside down, repeatedly pummeling him, the docs said.
Police said the pupil was able to hold onto Livingston until a district security officer arrived.
The driver then closed the door and drove off with the children, before being stopped by police about a mile away after students called 911, according to Fox 4.
When the doors opened, the students ran off crying and screaming, the local outlet reports.
Livingston has since pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor assault charges, and was released on bond.
He has also been fired from the Liberty School District, which said in a statement that “the safety of our students while at school, or in this case on the school bus, is our top priority.”
“We are sorry that this incident took place, for not only the student involved, but also the other students that were present on the bus and witnessed the incident,” principal Reagan Allegri wrote in a letter to parents obtained by Fox 4.
“Our team has provided regular check-ins with the students who were present on the bus yesterday afternoon to ensure they are doing OK here at school today,” he wrote on Friday.
Carrel’s family said he is now reluctant to take the bus, and is demanding more stringent background checks.
“Every kid’s life is in their hands whenever they get on the bus, so just do more of a background check because you want to know who your kids are riding with,” father Brad Carrel told KCTV.
“You want them to be safe, no matter what.”
