A New York state bus driver was arrested after allegedly kissing a student on his bus.
The driver, identified as Joel Cedeno, was said to have pulled over in Patchogue on March 18 around 6:15 a.m.
A 15-year-old female student, the only student on the bus at the time, said that he asked her for a hug.
She offered a handshake instead. That’s when Cedeno allegedly kissed her.
School bus driver accused of stopping bus, kissing 15-year-old studenthttps://t.co/VVssMRnqsd
— Virginia Huie (@VirginiaHuie) March 25, 2019
The girl alerted the Patchogue-Medford school district and officials contacted the police.
Cedeno, 62, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
In a statement, the district said that it helped police investigate what happened and also counseled the student.
“The driver was immediately removed from the bus route while an investigation was being conducted. The driver has since been decertified by the district. The school district values student safety and security more than anything and has procedures in place to ensure we react to these situations as quickly as possible,” the district stated.
“The bus driver is not a Patchogue-Medford employee. He is employed by Montauk Bus Company, an outside contractor. The driver had passed all necessary background checks and certifications. We continue to work with our bus companies to ensure that they are in full compliance with all laws and district policies.”
A spokesman for Montauk Bus told the New York Post that he had no history of similar behavior and that he had been fired.
“All the drivers have handbooks, rules, and regulations that they’re required to follow,” company attorney and spokesman Robert Macedonio said Monday. “He is no longer employed with the company, we don’t condone the actions and we hope that the child will be okay.”
Cedeno is due back in court in May.
District: No students hurt when school bus crashed on way to Spartanburg High School https://t.co/0PdYOyTM6S
— FOX Carolina News (@foxcarolinanews) March 22, 2019
Bus Driver Gets in Crash
A South Carolina bus driver got in a crash on March 22 after he swerved to avoid hitting an animal.
The female bus driver, who was not identified, told police officers that two squirrels ran out in front of her bus while she was driving six children to school in Spartanburg on Friday morning.
She swerved to avoid hitting the squirrels, causing the bus to run off the right side of the road.
She tried to swerve back onto the road but overcorrected, causing the bus to cross over off the other side of the road.
The bus then slammed into a tree and then a house.
None of the students were injured, a Spartanburg School District spokesperson told WSPA. There was damage to the house.
No one was hurt when a school bus hit a house in an eastside neighborhood of Spartanburg. https://t.co/y6tkfACtLk
— WJBF (@WJBF) March 24, 2019
Driver Abandons Children at Gas Station
An eastern Pennsylvania school bus driver is facing charges after police allege she drove erratically while under the influence of alcohol with 26 juveniles aboard, then abandoned them and the bus at a gas station.
State police in Bethlehem said Lori Ann Mankos, 44, of Walnutport is charged with 26 counts for child endangerment and one count for driving under the influence and careless and reckless driving.
Mankos was transporting 26 students for the Northampton Area School District on March 8 but was allegedly driving erratically while under the influence, police said.
She was driving high and was suppose to be driving the middle school students home when some students noticed she wasn’t going by the route she followed daily and she was also agitated. She flipped off at students and also swore at them, reported the WFMZ News.
“The major thing on the ride that threw everybody off was when there was a right-hand turn and when she took it, she was going far too fast,” student Mason Persiani said.
“She ended up being halfway into the opposing lane of traffic,” Persiani said. “That was probably the scariest point of the ride, and at the point, my heart was racing. I was pretty nervous.”
“Call the school, this is not even funny,” a female student said in the video. “Pull over!”
At this point, the agitated driver refused to pull the bus over to the side of a road. “She told us to ‘Go [expletive] yourselves,’” Persiani claimed. “And flipped us off, you know, stuck her hand in the air and flipped us off.”
After this, she asked students if they wanted her to stop the bus. “Do you want, if I just pulled over and called everybody’s parents to pick them up?” the driver asked, as seen in the video.
“Yes,” students replied. She eventually parked at a Sunoco station, handed the keys to a gas station employee and walked away from the scene.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
