A Pasco County elementary school student was left with bumps and bruises Monday after a routine school bus ride home.
According to Karina Haake, her daughter, who shares the same first name, showed up on the family's Wesley Chapel doorstep alone, in tears and with bumps and bruises on her face.
"At first when I opened the door, I thought someone hit her," Haake said.
The 9-year-old's face was red and puffy, especially over the girl's right eye.
"I couldn't imagine what happened," Haake said.
According to Haake's daughter, she'd been riding home on the school bus when the bus driver jumped a curb near the entrance to their subdivision.
The fourth grader says she was jostled from her seat and slammed face first into the window.
"I was like, 'Did you not tell the bus driver?' She was like, 'No, but I was crying when I was getting off the bus,' and that to me was the second alarm. How do you not notice someone is crying exiting the bus?" Haake said.
School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe told ABC Action News a supervisor in the transportation department has looked at the video. According to Cobbe, the video shows the back tire of the bus hit a pot hole or curb, causing the bus to rock, something that is not uncommon for a vehicle of this size.
No one on the bus noticed that the girl was hurt and she didn't tell anyone, Cobbe added.
Haake said she immediately called the school's principal and he showed great concern. However, she was referred to the transportation department.
Haake told ABC Action News she grew frustrated because after 24 hours passed, the bus driver had not been notified of the incident nor questioned.
"I was fuming," Haake explained.
Haake doesn't want the bus driver to be fired. Instead, she wants the driver to be more careful and alert.
"I was super worried! That is why I wanted to make sure to let everybody know what was happening and make sure the community knew, too, just to double check their kids because if she bumped her head, who is to say one of the little ones didn't do the same thing and there is a parent there saying, 'Where did this come from?'"
The little girl did not have to go to the hospital. She also did not miss any school.
