WASHINGTON — A sixth-grade student was pummeled by older schoolmates on his Prince George’s County school bus while the bus was still on school property.
“They were hitting me in my head a lot,” Myles Slade, a student at Accokeek Academy, told Fox 5. He suffered bruises and scratches after being struck repeatedly by two older girls.
“There’s no other way to describe that attack than barbaric,” the boy’s father, Shawn Slade, told ABC 7.
According to the family, Myles was approached by a seventh grade girl, who ordered him out of the bus seat he’d sat in. The girl punched the boy in his face, according to the family.
“I told them I thought that they failed my son yesterday because I have a sense of security when I drop him off at the school bus — that he’s going to get on the school bus, go to school, get back on the school bus and come home safely — and that didn’t happen,” Shawn Slade told Fox 5.
Prince George’s County Public Schools spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson says the incident happened as the bus was leaving school property. The driver stopped the bus, and school staff separated the students.
Johnson says the students “were disciplined per our students rights and responsibilities handbook,” but would not specify the punishment, citing student privacy rules.
According to the handbook, a physical attack on another student can warrant a suspension of one to 10 days.
The incident was captured on cellphone video by another student and a camera installed on the bus.
Johnson says the school system’s transportation department is interviewing the driver, and reviewing the security video, to ensure protocols were followed.
Myles said he wished other students on the bus had come to his rescue.
“I feel pretty sad. I’m pretty scared to get back on the bus,” he said.
