A bus driver in Florida has been fired and charged after she was caught on video literally kicking a special-needs child off the bus, causing the girl to hurt her ankle.
The incident occurred in September, but prosecutors just this week released the video showing what happened.

School bus driver seen kicking an 8-year-old off the bus with her foot. (Image: screenshot via WTSP)
The driver, 41-year-old Stephanie Wilkerson, has been charged with aggravated child abuse. A phone number listed for her was disconnected, and it was not immediately known if she had an attorney.
Police say Wilkerson was driving the special-needs children to school in Tampa on Sept. 28 when the 8-year-old wanted to get off the bus. She was told to wait her turn, but police say the student, who WTSP identified as autistic, slapped and pushed the driver.
The video shows Wilkerson using her foot to push the girl off the stairs after she hesitated for about a minute. The girl fell and fractured her ankle.
WPIX reported that although the audio was not captured on the video released by the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office, the driver is reported to have also said “I’d buy a belt, if she were mine she would not hit adults ever again.”
Here’s the report with the recently released video:
This is the raw footage of the incident from WTSP:
“You can’t lose your cool,” Steve Hegarty, the school district spokesperson, said to WTSP. “You’re the adult, you’re held to very high standards and as a result of not meeting that standard, she was fired.”
Although Wilkerson rushed off the bus when the student fell down the stairs, WTSP noted that she didn’t seem too concerned given that in later footage she is seen eating in the driver’s seat.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Related:
- Parents Shocked After Their Down Syndrome Daughter Comes Home From School With Her Feet Duct Taped So Tight She Bruised
- Shock Vid.: Autistic Boy Beaten by Bus Driver and Aide
- Smelly Diaper and Sick Baby Gets Mom Kicked Off Seattle Bus
(H/T: Daily Mail)





















































































































Comments (42)
ASE
Mar. 23, 2013 at 2:17amIf it was my kid, the fat arse driver would be in for an arse whoppin’
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autisticmama
Mar. 23, 2013 at 2:10amWow. Kill off special needs kids. Little angels….innocent and beautiful…unable to protect themselves. God forgive you.
A warning to all, dont trust ANYONE with your children. In my experience with my own beautiful autistic daughter, there are precious few people that are qualified to work with them. I agree with one of the previous comments…5 minutes and a bat with that BIG FAT PIG. Kicking a kid. What an animal she is.
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NoSleeper
Mar. 23, 2013 at 4:31amPublic schools have failed in every way. The time has come to dismantle the public school system.
There is no one better to raise and educate the children than the parents…Home school. If that isn’t possible, for whatever reason, find a private school specialized for your child. Proper reallocation of tax $ from public education to private tuitions would provide better education, with school choice for parents, at less expense to taxpayers.
Less Gov’t is more gooder. ;)
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wilbstal
Mar. 22, 2013 at 8:24pmExactly the way Obama would have handled this. America is showing its Evil side more pften than not
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Ssdd
Mar. 22, 2013 at 8:11pmBut is she single?She has lovely table(wheel) manners.
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Lucky3000
Mar. 23, 2013 at 9:49amlol…I had to go back and look at the other video when I read your post…Yes…She does have lovely table manners………..I bet she does that all day long too……
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wilbstal
Mar. 22, 2013 at 8:01pmunion thugery and probabal an ACORN memeber plus aObamam backer that says it all
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LameLiberals
Mar. 22, 2013 at 7:33pmStop putting special needs kids on a pedestal. They an be JUST AS verbally abusive, snotty and abusive bullies to the people around them as non-special needs kids can be. Some of them KNOW they can get away with acting out because people are afraid to correct them – not politically correct.
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mechad01
Mar. 22, 2013 at 10:21pmLame- Being a father of a “special child” is wonderful and you are darn right she is on the highest pedestal I can provide for her. 10 to 15 seizures a day form 6 months to 18 months, full blown brain surgery at 18 months that caused right side weakness, took her 3 years to learn to walk again.. Now at 16 she can be a little hard to handle some times, but so would you if you had not way to communicate with the outside world.. We ( her mother and I ) do not consider her a special needs we consider her a teacher, inspiration to others, the best huger there is and most of all our child. So when falling asleep think how easy you have it.. knowing that tomorrow you don’t have to worry about if your child will be alive.. every morning for 16 years the same process get up go check to insure my child is still alive is what I live and I would not change it for the world…
For a comment on the story.. please please lord give me 5 minutes and a t-ball bat with that “lady”.
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Andrew_father_of_Ean
Mar. 22, 2013 at 10:52pmHey dum dum. My son has Spina Bifida – he is a gift from God? You may have only typical KIDS but until you are blessed with one of each —- STHU. some kids cannot express their fears or excitement well. she was paid to care for these kids – failed.
If it were my son, that would have been her last day on the JoB
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Melika
Mar. 22, 2013 at 7:02pmOh, but this is a “Special Needs” child and those are the most precious gifts from God. You can’t treat them any differently, especially if they are “autistic” – the new term for poorly trained and managed animals. People wonder why the American school child is so poorly educated, and all they have to do is look at the “special needs education” standards. Any and all lazy, violent dolts are put into the “special needs” category and no one can do anything to train them. They do this because we’ve successfully stopped parents and teachers from disciplining these animals and it also brings in lots and lots of Federal funds.
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normalmom
Mar. 22, 2013 at 7:24pmYou are full of crap, yes there are kids who the parent claims cause the kid is special needs they shouldn’t get in trouble but not all. As an attendant on a special needs route and a parent of an autistic child I tell you this isn’t the norm and those kids aren’t poorly trained animals as you claim. You are rude and don’t understand special needs kids.
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asybot12
Mar. 22, 2013 at 8:36pmI hope you will never, ever have child of ANY kind, you are one sick human being and the way you rate people you don’t even come close to being rated as a human IMO.
You are the animal in this story.
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Snafu777
Mar. 22, 2013 at 8:50pmMelika,
I understand your distrust of the whole autism/ADD/ADHD thing, as I feel these disabilities are often over-blamed for behavior problems. But… there ARE kids out there who do have legitimate permanent mental/emotional problems that cannot be helped. My son is one of these children. He’s five years old and autistic. He is a very loving child, but easily confused. He doesn’t usually understand why you’re upset with him, even after seeing the same resultant reaction five minutes earlier for the fortieth time that week for not going to the bathroom before relieving himself or screaming nonstop for hours or punching his grandmother. Neither his older sister nor his younger brother have these problems so it’s not the parenting. Please keep in mind that there is a distinct possibility that SOME children may very well have the problems they are diagnosed with. Unreasonable impatience and resorting to violence (punching, biting, etc.) is a common problem with autistic and mentally retarded children. This kind of reaction from the bus driver does nothing but further confuse and terrify these children. Regardless, kicking a child is NEVER an appropriate way for an adult to deal with a child.
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loriann12
Mar. 22, 2013 at 6:49pmYou’re an idiot.
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media-bias-steals-elections
Mar. 22, 2013 at 5:32pmThe sad part is, this adult will probably fall down, break her hip, and die within one year a painful death?
Nah, they are not putting anything in the food or water, too many radio wave frequencies messing with our heads, that’s just silly, after all the White House is protecting us?
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SovereignSoul
Mar. 22, 2013 at 5:16pmIt might be a good idea to hire and pay qualified drivers rather than those who will work ‘cheap’.
Just another crazy thought…nevermind.
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ChiefGeorge
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:30pmWhen I was but a wee lad growing up in the 70s, I always knew I could trust most adults I came in contact with, that they would do the right thing and this was from a view within the inner city. My teachers were trustworthy, my neighbors and friends parents were trusworthy and decent people, I saw a common thread in their decency which I later discovered was what we call now a Good American. If anything, it wa us kids who took advantage of the decency the older folks had and we still had not grasped. When we stopped teaching values of right and wrong, we stopped functioning as a good and decent society. We now live in an anything goes society and people seemed shocked when they see this sort of thing. Just remember this, America is an aberation of good in the world and its not the norm for countries. When America is finished and lets admit it, it is. Then the world will grow much darker.
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RetiredUSMC
Mar. 22, 2013 at 4:36pmThat fat sow needs her obese ass kicked down a flight of stairs. Naah…she’d probably do the blubber bounce and be okay…
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deeberj
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:19pmWhy don’t we just kill off special needs kids? They are a drain on our society and we spend too much educational tax money on them. We can let a panel decide which ones are worthy and which ones should die. While we are at it, let us kill of anyone who can’t work for themselves and needs the gov’t to support them. Like the elderly, or sick/disabled people. We could have our new healthcare system death panel tell us if it is spending too much money on them.
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Sparky101
Mar. 23, 2013 at 10:32amShades of Margaret Sanger and Adolf Hitler. The “final solution” – kill em all.
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19.5
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:13pmShes big and ugly, inside and out. I love union people. They seem so caring and warm.
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AlansTigg
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:12pmI’m more concerned with why we need to be burdened by morons like you
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19.5
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:11pmShe’s big and ugly, inside and out.
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The_Pointy_End
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:47pmMy first thought was, “that’s a woman?” From her size and build, I would never have guessed.
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AlansTigg
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:12pmI had that same reaction, really not sure that is a female
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cast
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:45pmThere is never a good reason to kick or beat a child. How would the bus driver feel if it were her child that was being kicked?
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NigelTufnel
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:43pmAnother angry democrat with not enough free stuff.
IMCHRISTIAN
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:42pmI hope and pray she never treats children or anyone in such a way as it displeases us or God. She needs help but definitely deserved to be fired.
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progressiveslayer
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:33pmThat lard @ss bus driver has a special need to get her fat @ss stomped, in fact she’s begging for it.
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pissantno.10
Mar. 22, 2013 at 3:03pmunion will have back to work in no time
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deeberj
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:27pmMy son was on a sped bus for 9 years and every aid & bus driver was fine except for one couple, who didn’t have the patience needed and improperly restrained and mistreated a little girl. I complained to the bus company when my son told me about it – he was only 6. I guess a few other parents complained too. The couple just disappeared.
It takes a lot of patience and knowledge of how to deal with special needs children, and not everyone is capable. Just being able to drive is not enough.
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YourVoiceMatters
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:27pmThat is a woman? I think not.
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thegreatcarnac
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:26pmPerfect Karma. He kicked her off the bus, and later he was kicked off the bus…permanently.
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DarthMims
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:19pmThose wacky nuts in Hillsborough just keep on getting national media attention.
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woodyee
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:12pmI’ll bet this incident gets less attention than the guy that shot his horse…
…stupid low information morons…
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freeberty
Mar. 22, 2013 at 2:36pmMight have, if she only had a gun and said fu ARC
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