POLK COUNTY, FLA. — A bus driver and bus attendant were arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) after they sprayed chemicals in the face of an intellectually disabled student while on the bus, officials said.
Arrested were bus driver Jeffrey Larson, 65, and 32-year-old attendant William Roberts.
They are accused of using spray bottles to spray a disinfectant cleaning solution into the face of a 15-year-old Karen M Siegel Academy student. The student has a toddler-level mental capacity, a PCSO report stated. The school is located in Lake Alfred.
Both men also were fired from Polk County Public Schools (PCPS).
PCPS sent out a message to parents saying: “This legal notification is to inform you that PCPS bus driver Jeffrey Larson, and bus attendant William Roberts, were arrested this morning on charges of aggravated child abuse. The arrests follow an incident that occurred on the bus at Karen M. Siegel Academy. We are including families from Boswell Elementary and Tenoroc High on this message, because the driver and attendant also served those schools. PCPS does not tolerate this kind of behavior from our employees, and these two individuals will no longer have any involvement with our district. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement. If you have any information to report, please contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.”
PCSO began an investigation on Tuesday, Sept. 22 after Academy Principal Maggie Reynolds noticed an increase in student behavior referrals regarding bus No. 1611.
Reynolds investigated further, requesting bus video footage from the Polk County School Board.
While observing the bus video from Aug. 31, Reynolds observed Larson spraying a spray bottle dispersing a liquid substance directly in the student’s face, and on his torso and legs before walking away.
Another clip of the video showed Larson leaving the driver's seat of the bus and walk over to the student and spray him in his face and all over the front of his body, and say, "stop spitting," the PCSO report stated.
A second incident occurred on Sept. 2, where Roberts was observed sitting in the back of the school bus while the student was secured in his seat.
Roberts then looks up at a camera, pulls a spray bottle from the side of his body, then sprays it on to the student’s back for no apparent reason, the report stated.
A PCSO interview was conducted with Larson at his home. He advised there are no spray bottles containing water on the bus. However, there are three bottles containing different types of cleaning products, the report stated.
Larson then invoked his right to counsel.
Roberts, during an interview with PCSO, said that the bus contained various bottles of disinfectant cleaner with spray nozzles.
Roberts admitted that he sprayed the student "no more than five times," in the face with the disinfectant cleaner to "teach him a lesson," the report stated.
Based on the investigation, Lawson and Roberts were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse.
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