March 5, 2009 10:46 AM
Loudoun school bus driver charged
How sad. I applaud these parents for calling the Sheriff's Office:
Loudoun County, Virginia- A Loudoun County school bus driver was charged Wednesday with seven counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after she allegedly offered students money to throw snowballs at a thirteen-year-old victim.Katina M. Mitchell, 34, of Sterling, was charged Wednesday afternoon by members of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.
During the afternoon route on Tuesday the bus driver apparently offered varying increments of money to the students to throw snowballs at the victim or stuff snow down his shirt. After the students exited the bus, several of them, who are 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at River Bend Middle School in Sterling, VA, threw snowballs at the thirteen-year-old. The victim was not seriously injured during the incident.
The incident was apparently spurred by an exchange of words between the bus driver, another student on the bus, and the victim.
Authorities were made aware of the incident around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday after a parent of the victim contacted the Sheriff's Office. Mitchell was charged on Wednesday and taken to the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center where she was booked and released.
Contributing to the delinquency of a minor (§ 18.2-371) is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The authorized punishment for a Class 1 misdemeanor is confinement in jail for up to twelve months and a fine of up to $2,500, either or both.
Anyone who remembers being 13 can probably feel the pain of having an adult urge your peers to gang up on you. Kids in these situations need to know their parents will do anything to protect them.
Posted in Loudoun County, Public schools | Permalink
