NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Education officials are investigating a viral video clip that purports to show an altercation involving a public school student and a man on a crowded school bus.
Director of Education Marcellus Taylor could not confirm the school; however, Eyewitness News understands that the students are from Eight Mile Rock High School in Grand Bahama.
The nearly five-minute video starts with the man telling two male students to come off the bus.
As one of the young boys got up, he can be heard saying “don’t touch me” and the incident seems to escalate quickly.
The man swings at the boy, hitting him in his head, and proceeds to pull him and punch him several times.
It is unclear what the official capacity of the man is, however students in the video can be heard referring to him as the bus driver.
Another man intervenes in the altercation and separates the two, motioning the man off of the vehicle.
The video continues with the young boy also being taken off the bus, with students jeering and shouting about the incident.
Social media erupted with reaction over the footage, with several Facebook user indicating that the man was wrong for hitting the student, and others saying they believe the young boy was being rude and “deserved it”.
FB user Trinityo Butler said: “No one have the right to hit those kids the boy didn’t touch him all he said was don’t touch me yes some children are disrespectful but don’t touch people kids. He beat that woman child like an adult, that’s wrong.”
Another user, Lashan Brown said: “I know that bus driver and I can tell you they did something to him. He is very quiet and respectable.”
Cory Pinder added: “One thing I do know is that bus belongs to Gordon Grant and he has every single right to ask anyone to get off if they are causing a problem.
“He is contracted to take these children to school safely. Safety is his main concern, being the driver, he can’t operate that bus safely if there is chaos.”
Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd has previously said that a serious discussion must be had regarding corporal punishment in schools.
