CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Four minutes and 12 seconds of chaos erupted when a woman stepped onto a school bus to confront a child she believed ...
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Four minutes and 12 seconds of chaos erupted when a woman stepped onto a school bus to confront a child she believed hit her stepdaughter in the mouth. The incident, captured on a video obtained through a The Leaf-Chronicle public records request, shows Kela Ieshia Hand, 22, grabbing a 7-year-old St. Bethlehem Elementary School second-grader and shouting profane threats at the child and at all the other young children on the bus. The morning of April 25, an elementary school girl was apparently hit in the mouth at the Raleigh Court bus stop. The girl's mother and her mother's partner, Hand, boarded the bus to find out who hit their daughter, and things quickly escalated. The video shows Hand getting on the bus, walking past the driver as the driver objects, yelling at the children, and trying to lead the 7-year-old boy she initially suspected of hitting her daughter off the bus as he cries and screams. Hand is heard on the video telling the boy she is going to "(expletive) him up." The boy said he would tell his mom, according to the warrant, and Hand is heard yelling, "Go ahead. I will (expletive) her up too!" Hand also cursed at and threatened all the other children on the bus. In all, six adults got on the bus, walking past the driver over her objections. Some of the adults appeared to be checking on their children, some were arguing with the children over who started the fight, and one yelled sternly at the children to sit down and behave themselves. The bus driver, Connie Pritzl, radioed Clarksville-Montgomery County School System dispatch after Hand first got on the bus, but then she put the radio down. In the video, dispatchers can be heard in the background trying to get a response from Pritzl as she tries to control the situation. A letter of reprimand in Pritzl's personnel file says dispatch called 911 to request assistance and was asking Pritzl for her location. After several attempts by dispatch to reach her, Pritzl finally radioed back and said the parent had left the bus, so the request for assistance from 911 was canceled. Police responded to St. Bethlehem Elementary to begin an investigation. Update: Tennessee woman Kela Hand was arrested after forcing her way onto a school bus and spending more than four minutes verbally and physically assaulting a 7-year-old boy she believed smacked her stepdaughter. The irony of how ridiculous it is to punish a child for being violent by being even more violent was apparently lost on her. According to The Leaf-Chronicle, Kela’s stepdaughter was hit in the mouth while waiting at a school bus stop. Outraged to hear about the incident, both Kela and her partner (the girl’s mother), boarded the school bus to confront the boy who allegedly struck their daughter. Leading the assault, Kela is heard in an on-bus video telling the second-grader she is going to “f**k him up.” Reacting as you’d expect a 7-year-old to, the scared boy said he would tell his mom. Kela yelled back, “Go ahead. I will f**k her up too!” Four other parents pushed their ways past the driver to check on their own children. The bus driver initially radioed for help, but then tried to manage the situation on her own. The parents were eventually pushed off the bus and the students continued on to school. The elementary school principal later called Monica Rogers, the mother of the boy who was assaulted. “The principal told me there was an incident on the bus… The parent boarded the bus, cursed out the kids and pinpointed my son, thinking he was the one who hit her daughter,” Monica said. “He pulled him by his arm out of the seat and said you are going to get off this bus. She grabbed his arm and proceeded to the front of the bus with him. There was another student by the stairs who told her he didn’t do it.” She said her son has epilepsy and the attack could have triggered a seizure. “If they would’ve yelled, OK, but to put your hands on him? I don’t grab my son like that, and they shouldn’t have either,” she said of Kela. She added the bus driver should be punished for allowing the situation to get so out of hand. “She stood there watching instead of being on dispatch telling them there was parent on the bus, yelling and cussing and screaming. She didn’t make it sound urgent that the police needed to be called.” Police eventually responded to the elementary school and conducted an investigation. Kela was arrested and charged with two counts of assault and one count of disorderly conduct. She is also prohibited from entering school property. The bus driver has been reassigned to the food services department. courtesy of Clarksville-Montgomery County School System #financial_support_div{ display:none; position: absolute; width:300px; height:180px; margin-left: -150px; margin-top: -70px; /*- half of width and height */ top:50%; left:50%; padding: 5px; opacity:0.9; filter:alpha(opacity=90); z-index:1000; background-color:#000; color: white; } .close_box{ background: gray; color:#fff; padding:1px 3px; display:inline; position:absolute; right:1px; margin-right: -13px; margin-top: -13px; border-radius:3px; cursor:pointer; border: 1px #000 solid; } $(document).on("click",".close_box",function(){ $(this).parent().fadeTo(300,0,function(){ $(this).remove(); }); }); Loading the player ... Less
