HANCOCK COUNTY, Ind. -- A East Hancock School bus driver is facing charges after he was accused of shoving a special needs student out of the bus.
According to police, the driver, Harold Eugene Cass, 74, was driving a district school bus on August 10.
Cass was dropping off the young boy at his home and it was raining so the child did not want to get off of the bus. That's when video allegedly shows Cass push the child from the bus.
Deputies interviewed the home health care worker who was taking care of the child that day. She says she was at the bus to pick up the boy around 4 p.m. when she thought she saw him being pushed off the bus. The healthcare worker says the boy fell into her arms and was not hurt.
She told deputies that before he fell she heard the driver tell the child "Get off the bus."
The bus aide, Tom Kemerly, told detectives that he thought he saw the boy 'leap forward' but did not see Cass shove the boy from the bus. He did remember hearing the driver tell the child to "Get off the bus."
When deputies interviewed Cass he denied the allegations, even after police told him they had video from the bus that day that showed him shoving the boy.
He told deputies that the child tried to hit the bus aide and when he tried to put his hand up to keep the child from turning, the child lost his footing and fell out of the door.
The school board said Cass was let go from his position on Monday. The incident remains under investigation by the Hancock County Sheriff's Department.
