Bluffton police release video of bus monitor striking 4-year-old; looking into September incident
Bluffton police released video footage Friday from a Durham School Services bus that shows a Seabrook woman hitting a 4-year-old special-needs child in the face.
The footage, from a Feb. 12 bus incident, shows 61-year-old Seabrook resident Lillian Jackson strike the 4-year-old once with her hand and about three times with the boy's hand around 7:35 a.m. as the bus picked up other students.
Jackson was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child Tuesday after police reviewed video footage from the bus. Jackson is also on leave while Durham, the company contracted for the district's bus services, conducts its own investigation, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.
The 15-minute video released Friday only shows Jackson hit the boy in the face, but the boy's mother also found bruises on his thigh, caused by Jackson grabbing his leg, according to a Bluffton Police Department report. Jackson grabbed the boy's leg at about 7:55 a.m., the report said.
After the boy's mother found the bruises, she reported his injuries to Bluffton Elementary School assistant principal Kenyatta Frederick, who reported his injuries to police. Frederick showed investigators photos of bruises on his left arm and left thigh, the report said.
At her Seabrook home Tuesday, Jackson told investigators she did not know what incident they were referring to and asked to see the video. She offered no explanation about what happened on the bus. She was released from the Beaufort County Detention Center on Wednesday after posting a $3,000 bond.
Frederick also told police the boy's mother reported in September that Jackson had allegedly forced her son to cover his mouth when he coughed, bruising his wrists in the process. Durham and the district reviewed video of that incident but did not take disciplinary action or notify law enforcement, Frederick told police in the report.
On Friday, Bluffton police Lt. Donald Chandler declined to release video of the September incident, because police are considering it an ongoing investigation, he said.
Follow reporter Matt McNab at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.
Related content:
- Updated with video: Special needs bus monitor reported by victim's mother before, Feb 19, 2015
- Police: Special-needs bus monitor reported by victim's mother before, Feb. 18, 2015
This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Bluffton police release video of bus monitor striking 4-year-old; looking into September incident."