MILWAUKEE (May 7) - A school bus driver has been charged with abuse after a 9-year-old with Down syndrome secretly taped the driver hitting him while trying to make him behave. Brian Duchow, 28, was charged Tuesday with felony abuse of a child and misdemeanor disorderly conduct, carrying a possible maximum penalty of 6 1/2 years in prison. ``I never, ever expected to hear what we heard on the tape,'' said Rosemary Mutulo, whose son Jacob has Down syndrome. ``It made me sick to my stomach to hear this man threatening my child.'' The Mutulos put a tape recorder in Jacob's backpack because they wanted to know more about reports that he was misbehaving on the bus. They brought the tape, recorded April 29, to officials' attention and police arrested Duchow over the weekend. Duchow admitted slapping the child in anger and hitting him in the leg, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint notes that Jacob also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. His parents played some of the tape for reporters at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. The driver can be heard shouting at Jacob because the boy is making bus engine noises, yelling and fiddling with his seat belt. At one point, the driver stops the bus and moves toward the boy, followed by what sounds like a hand slapping clothing. The driver can be heard threatening to break the boy's arm and beat him, and warns, ``Stop before I beat the living hell out of you.'' Jacob, attends the Academy of Accelerated Learning, a Milwaukee public school. 05/07/03 04:12 EDT Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
I was furious over this to, FT. I had some choice words for the tv screen displaying this guy's picture last night, reporting on the story. Horrible. How in the world could anyone be that freaking cold? I don't know whether or not the evidence will be admissible or not. I do know this guy will lose his job and any shred of credibility he had in that community. If the little boy can testify as to what was said to him, then there's no need for a tape. His words will convict the man, and I pity the defense attorney who tries to cross examine a little boy with down's syndrome.
I bet they find someway to nail this guy, but at least he is not hurting the child anymore. I would guess the little boy and his parents are pretty proud right now.
With all of these horrible stories on bus drivers you would think they'd run better background checks. Not all bus drivers treat kids bad, but these people are making them look real bad. I hope they put this guy behind bars!
Seriously, what kind of people do you think are going to take $8 an hour to drive a bus. The public outrage always makes me laugh when something like this happens. Not that there shouldn't be outrage, but seriously, these people dealing with kids aren't always the top notch society has to offer. And what do you expect. The same is with nursing home abuse. Do you realize that some of the people working in nursing homes are making minimum wage. A lot of them are drop outs, convicts, etc. You get what you pay for. Its the sad reality of capitalism.
What's that reality? That people that make less money are somehow 'less' than people who make more? That they're the dregs of society?
what an absolutely degrading comment...people who don't earn a ton of money are going to shout at children at try to hurt or abuse others. people who make money clearly never do those things.
Jesus H Christ...who cares how much anybody makes. I would be pissed if Bill Gates did this. It pisses me off that people could hurt innocent children or take advantage of a situation like nursing homes or the likes. I'm glad you can laugh at the public outrage. It's good to know where you stand on this.
You're right, it's a degrading comment, but look at where these incidents happen, not to say its common with bus drivers, but we here about nursing home abuse more times than we care to. And do you mean to tell me, that it has nothing to do with the people who end up taking these jobs. I guarantee you, there isn't a long line of people willing to clean bed sores, change bed pans, and make less than ten dollars an hour. The people who end up in these jobs are frustrated and I'm sure would be willing to be somewhere else.
I never said, I was for abusing kids, and definitly if it was my kid, I would be very upset. I guess I should have said, it never surprises me when it happens, and I don't know why it surprises anyone else.
it surprises me because my expectations from people aren't based in how much their paid. this isn't about the quality of their work or their intelligence. this is about basic decency. this is about not yelling down children with down's syndrome. no, i would not expect this busdriver to be able to conduct brain surgery...but yes, i would expect him, and everyone else, to treat other people with some margin of respect. that knows no socio-economic status. and i refuse to look down on people that much...to expect so very little of people.
I expect more of people the more their paid. I don't expect much from people who may be struggling to put food on the table.
i expect more quality of work for those who are paid more...but i don't expect more of people for things like this...having a very average job is not an excuse for abusing children. nor should that be the expectation. for someone who leans to the left, i find this to be quite an elitist viewpoint. am i missing something? i don't mean to insult you, so i assume i must be misinterpreting something.
Again there are some good hard working people who drive buses. Not all of these low income earning people take their job lightly. I think that the people who feel like if they make less money, then they have a negative attitude towards their job, are the ones we have to worry about. Not everyone feels this way.
Quite the wrong conclusion Max, maybe I would advocate paying these people more. Maybe I would advocate increasing the mininmum wage, and therefore increasing our expectations of people who have no other choice in life but to take on these jobs. And just to clarify, the case of abuse is extreme, but I'm just talking about in general expecting someone to care about a job that barely feeds them and their family.
By that criteria, you must expect parents that pay child support to abuse children. I hate it when I beat my school kids.
You're right, not everyone takes their job lightly, and I don't mean to say that I expect all of them to not care about what they do, it just doesn't surprise me when they don't.
Divorced dad paying child support. Income income shaved by 20%. Works hard with kids to be able to put food on the table. Sometimes very stressful. Do I strike kids? NO Have I ever been inclined to? Even in the midst of my divorce living on $300 a month? NO. Bottom line...there is no excuse to lay a finger on any child that you are not the parent of.
