News

Special needs student's wheelchair improperly secured to school bus

KENT, Wash. — Video inside a Kent school bus shows a special needs student in a wheelchair slamming to the floor when her wheelchair isn't properly secured.
 
It happened in January.
 
Video from inside the bus shows 7-year-old Charlotte McCollum sitting in her wheelchair.
 
As the bus driver turns the corner, McCollum's wheelchair tips over and slams to the floor.
 
Staff rushes to her side.
 
"It scares me so much," mother Natasha Hall said.
 
Charlotte, a first-grader at Jenkins Creek Elementary, has special needs.
 
At the time of the accident, Hall didn't think the injuries were that serious.
 
"As the next day wore on, she starts getting  more and more vocal in her pain," Hall explained. "She can't tell us, because she is non-verbal, she can't tell us how bad it's hurting."
 
"We're sorry, we apologize," Kent School District spokesman Chris Loftis said.
 
Loftis said what happened was a mistake.
 
"Evidently we had a bus driver who is responsible for securing students in their wheelchairs and just did not appropriately secure that student," Loftis added.
 
But Hall said this accident is the latest in a string of incidents since Charlotte was in preschool.
 
She said the district has repeatedly failed to protect her daughter and provide her with a proper education
 
Last year, she said Charlotte's feeding tube was broken and even pulled while she was at school because she wasn't being properly supervised.
 
She said Charlotte has had numerous emergency room visits.
 
"Unlike my son who can walk and talk, Charlotte is absolutely 100 percent vulnerable.  It's like I am handing them an infant," Hall said.
 
Charlotte's parents even took the district to court.
 
A judge sided with the family but she said the district is still not in compliance.
 
"I want her to have the experiences, same experiences that all children have, Hall added. "To go to school, to have friends, to learn and to grow to the best of her abilities."
 
"We are attending to each of those as we are able," Loftis said about the court order.
 
Hall said she isn't giving up.
 
And she's speaking out now since Charlotte can't speak for herself.
 
Hall also wants the district to cover all of Charlotte's medical costs from injuries received at school but she says the district refuses.
 
Charlotte has an MRI scheduled for Friday to determine the extent of her injuries from the bus accident.