

when another student was received onto the bus. “(Davila) did not appear to be make visual contact with (Fajr) from 8:32:30 a.m. Once Fajr was secured, Davila sat in the first seat behind the driver with her back to the rear of the bus and was observed using a cellphone with earbud headphones in each ear, according to the affidavit. It was later determined that there was a lap belt and ankle restraints available on the wheelchair.” There did not appear to be any other safety restraints utilized. “The harness straps went over both shoulders and under both arms. "In the bus video, the child is observed strapped into a 4-point chest harness which appeared to be secured to the wheelchair,” the affidavit says. Davila, the aide, wheeled her into the rear driver-side section of the bus which had been cleared of standard bus seats for wheelchair access, and secured the child's wheelchair to the ground hook system, according to the affidavit. There are audio and video recordings of the events on the bus but the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office denied a public records request to release them, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.įajr was brought onto the bus by a handicap-accessible hydraulic lift. that morning, according to the affidavit. The chain of tragic events began when a school bus owned by Montauk Transit picked up Fajr near her home in Franklin Park around 8:29 a.m. July 17 to Claremont Elementary School in Franklin Park after receiving a 911 call about an unresponsive child.Īrriving officers administered CPR to Fajr before she was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where she remained unresponsive in the Children's Intensive Care Unit. Related: 'This doesn't need to happen to anyone else': Family mourns child who died on school busįranklin police responded around 9:04 a.m.

"(The school bus aide) appeared to be occupied on her cell phone during this struggle with her back to (Fajr) and did not appear to hear or see (Fajr) as she went unconscious at 8:48:47 a.m.,” according to the affidavit. The affidavit says that Davila, whose job was to care for Fajr, a nonverbal child with disabilities, and make sure she safely arrived at her extended school year program in Franklin, didn't check on Fajr for at least 20 minutes as she became unconscious when the harness tightened around her neck. The latest: School bus aide charged with child's death released from jail pending trial
