SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida school bus driver was arrested after police say she drove a bus full of children over railroad tracks as a train was approaching.
The incident was caught on camera.
The video shows a school bus filled with 29 children being clipped by a fast-moving train at an intersection.
The bus driver, Yvonne Hampton, is now out on bond
“Trains don’t sneak up on people, folks. And that’s what led to this arrest, poor judgement that placed children at risk,” Sumter County Sheriff Pat Breedon said.
Cheyenne Gant, 12, and her mom, Tiffany, say the girl was on the bus with some of her classmates and tried to warn Hampton.
“She like stopped on the tracks, specifically, and then didn’t move whenever we were all yelling, ‘train!’ And it was very scary in the moment,” Gant said.
According to the arrest report, Hampton claimed, “There was a car at the intersection and she was waiting for the car to move. She said the car began to move. So she began to go over the other side of the tracks. But, the car stopped. The defendant said she then had to stop right where the bus was parked.”
After reviewing video and audio from the incident, the responding officer says he heard Hampton say “not gonna stop for no train.” And she proceeded over the tracks after the railroad crossing warning lights activated, bells sounded and arms lowered, officials said.
“I think I’m just going to be like more stressed and like have higher anxiety whenever being on the bus,” Gant said.
“She’s my only daughter; so it’s somebody that she could have taken out of (the) world, along with 28 other children that could do great things to the world. And she just had no regard for her actions,” Tiffany Gant said.
The school bus driver, Yvonne Hampton, was arrested and charged with 29 counts of felony child neglect without great bodily harm, one count of culpable negligence, and one count of reckless driving, according to Sumter County Sheriff Pat Breeden.
CREDIT: Eyewitness News 7 Will Reeve
