Bus driver accused of punching 11-year-old in the face

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An Albuquerque, N.M., school bus driver has been suspended after being accused of punching an 11-year-old boy in the face.

KOB-TV reports that students told police that the boy was punched after the driver stopped the bus, blew his whistle and yelled because the boy and other students were watching a video.

The incident occurred the afternoon of Dec. 6 in front of a half dozen other kids as students headed home from a middle school.

“It’s completely unfathomable,” parent Scott Dickerson Told KOB-TV. “I couldn’t imagine a person that’s been put in charge of driving kids, back and forth from the neighborhood school, would do that.”

Officials with the school district and the company that operates the bus involved in the incident say the driver has been placed on unpaid suspension pending the results of an investigation.

The boy’s family says he’s been having headaches and had trouble sleeping since the incident.

Dickerson said the family’s doctor recommended that the boy stay out of school until at least January.