Disturbing video shows a 13-year-old boy’s backpack getting caught in the doors of his school bus, then being dragged nearly 175 feet as the bus drove away. Now his mother is suing the Utah school district, saying the bus driver intentionally dragged her child because he’s biracial.

Brenda Mayes claims that the Davis School District bus driver has had a history of “racial animus” towards biracial children, and that animus almost led to her child being seriously injured, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday with the U.S District Court Northern Utah Division.

Video given to NBC News by Mayes’ attorney shows the incident from February in which Mayes’ son was departing the bus at West Point Junior High, roughly 30 miles north of Salt Lake City, when the doors closed on his backpack. The bus then moves, dragging the boy for what Mayes’ lawsuit estimated to be 150 to 175 feet.

Mayes claims in her lawsuit that her son was subjected to racial discrimination, harassment, assault and bullying by the bus driver in violation of Title IX and Fourteenth Amendment protections.

The district, the county’s transportation director and the bus driver are all named as defendants in the case.

Had the boy’s backpack straps broken, he “would have dropped to the pavement and could have been run over and killed by the bus or could have sustained serious injuries by the fall onto the concrete,” the lawsuit said.

“He could’ve been crushed,” Mayes told NBC News on Thursday. “That wheel would’ve crushed him, one turn could’ve crushed him.”

Mayes filed a complaint against the bus driver, John Naisbitt, but says nothing was done when she first brought up the incident with school officials. The transportation director, Dave Roberts, was dismissive of her complaints, Mayes said.

Naisbitt retired while the district was investigating, according to the lawsuit. The school district confirmed in a statement he no longer worked for them.

“All I wanted was them to change some type of policy,” Mayes said. “Honestly got blank stares, no response, no anything.”

She told NBC News this is not the first such incident involving Naisbitt.

In October 2018, Mayes claimed that he closed the doors on a neighbor’s child, and attempted to do the same with her younger son.

Her lawsuit also claims that parents made complaints about Naisbitt in 2017 after he allegedly berated the children on the bus, called them names, and refused to take them to their assigned bus stops.

Davis School District said it could not comment on the lawsuit because it had not yet been served.

“However, when issues of discrimination are raised at any time, they are investigated thoroughly,” the district said in a statement. “The Davis School District takes any claims of racial discrimination seriously and does not tolerate any form of racial discrimination in our schools.”

NBC News made attempts to contact John Naisbitt, but phone numbers connected to him through public records appear to be disconnected.

Naisbitt spoke to Fox13 News in Salt Lake City on Tuesday and said he didn’t see the boy caught in his doors. Naisbitt said he warned kids he would be moving because other buses were lined behind him and claimed the incident was staged after he disciplined the boy’s younger brother.

He denied being a racist.

“Not at all. No. Look at my dog. He’s as black as could be,” Naisbitt told Fox13 News.

via:https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/utah-mom-files-civil-rights-suit-against-bus-driver-who-n1003986

Photo Credit: ktla.com

Video credit: ktla.com

A South Carolina man who met a 13-year-old Fenton girl on social media twice rented a home in the St. Louis area and had sex with the girl, authorities say.

Ryan Joseph Palmieri, 36, was charged May 3 with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. He was arrested a few days later.

Palmieri, of Charleston, S.C., is scheduled to go before a judge there in a preliminary hearing and detention hearing on Monday.

According to an affidavit filed in federal court, Palmieri posed initially as a 17-year-old boy named Ryan on the site called MeetMe. The Fenton girl had posted her age as 15, instead of her actual age of 13.

They continued their conversations through Skype and exchanged nude photos with each other, police say. After a few months of this, Palmieri told the girl he was actually in his 30s, and he sent her a photo of his face, police say.

About three months ago, in January or February, Palmieri traveled from South Carolina to the St. Louis area, police say. He rented a home through Airbnb in the Fenton area. They had sex at her home and at the rental home, police say. The same thing happened in April, police say. 

Palmieri bought the girl clothes and jewelry, police say. When her mother asked who gave them to her, the girl told her mother about Palmieri, including his age and that they had had sex, police say. In texts, Palmieri was nervous, police say. “You’re not going to jail for seven years. I am,” he allegedly told the girl.

A detective told Airbnb about the allegations, and the company gave police a copy of the drivers license provided by the renter. That license came back to Palmieri. In a photo lineup, the girl pointed to Palmieri as the man she had sex with, police say.

via: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/south-carolina-man-rented-home-here-through-airbnb-to-have/article_ba5ae3d0-e5b3-58e3-92c9-daefc5f7702b.html

Photo Credit: stltoday.com

A principal and four teachers at an elementary school in Palmdale have been placed on administrative leave after a photo showing the teachers posing with a noose circulated on social media.

The incident occurred at Summerwind Elementary School and was brought to the attention of the school district on Wednesday, according to a Thursday morning statement from the Office of the Superintendent that was posted on the Palmdale School District Facebook page.

The district placed Principal Linda Brandts on administrative leave pending an investigation into “the discovery of a noose and possibly inappropriate responses to that discovery,” the post read.

The four teachers had also been placed on leave during the investigation, Superintendent Raul Maldonado told The Antelope Valley Times in a written statement.

“We will not stop until we find out exactly what did occur. We will not tolerate this type of behavior in our schools. We hold the highest standards and expectations for our employees,” part of the statement to the Times read.

Officials have not said when the photo was taken or how the noose came into the possession of the teachers but the image eventually became widely circulated on social media.

“It looks like a noose, a noose used to hang my ancestors from trees … black people,” Denise Royal told the Times.

Concerned community members can attend a school district board meeting at 4 p.m. May 21, or a town hall that is scheduled for 6 p.m. that same day at Living Praise Christian Church.

via: https://ktla.com/2019/05/10/principal-4-teachers-in-palmdale-placed-on-leave-after-posing-for-photo-with-noose/

Photo Credit: ktla.com