A 6-Year-Old Suffocated and Bus Monitor Didn’t Notice, Prosecutor Says
Amanda Davila, a 27-year-old school bus monitor, was sitting toward the front of her bus on Monday morning, focused on her cellphone and wearing her earbuds. Several rows back was one of the children she was supposed to keep an eye on: a disabled 6-year-old girl in a wheelchair who was unable to speak, on her way to a summertime education program in New Jersey.
The driver of the bus hit a bumpy patch of road, and the girl, Fajr Williams, slid down in her chair. And, unbeknownst to Ms. Davila, the strap that was supposed to secure the child in her seat ended up tight against her throat, ultimately suffocating her, authorities said.
Ms. Davila was arrested on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Somerset County prosecutor, John P. McDonald, announced that she had been charged with second-degree manslaughter and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors said Ms. Davila was “utilizing a cellular telephone while wearing earbud headphone devices in both ears.”
Source: The New York Times
