HOUSTON – An HISD school bus driver is accused of intentionally hurting a child on her bus.
Martha Dobbins, 65, was accused of intentionally hitting five year old Jquonte Frank in the head, twice, when he took the school bus to Cashmere Gardens Elementary School in northeast Houston on April 2.
An assistant, on board the bus, reported the alleged abuse to her supervisor.
The adult witness said the driver was upset because she thought he had written on something with a red marker.
The witness said the bus driver hit the five year old in the head twice despite the witness's repeated pleas to stop.
"I'm very disappointed. I'm hurt," said Francis Frank, Jquonte's dad. He said, "I am upset and I am angry to a certain extent and disappointed that this could actually happen to your child."
Frank said his son is a special needs student who may not have fully understood what was happening.
Investigators said two video cameras captured everything. The court documents show the bus driver first denied hitting the five year old.
When this investigation began, the school district said the bus driver was suspended without pay pending the results of the investigation.