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CMS bus driver accused of inappropriately touching students

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver is accused of touching and grabbing several students as young as 6 years old on a school bus.

The children came forward shortly after the end of the school year. Two of them gave statements to CMS police Thursday at Mountain Island Lake Academy in northwest Charlotte.

A source told Channel 9 the driver is suspended, but we are not identifying him because he has not been charged with a crime.

Parents said the driver took students from the school to a YMCA for an after-school program throughout most of the year.

The allegations began at the beginning of the school year in August, according to the police report.

A mother, who didn't want her identity revealed, said her son was giving a statement to police Thursday afternoon.

She still struggles with what he told her.

"It's scary because you wouldn't think anything like that could happen on a school bus full of other children. With so many eyes around, you think they're safe," she said.

She said her son was pinched on the buttocks many times when he got off the bus. Another parent said her son had his private parts touched by the driver from February until the end of the year.

The children said the driver would laugh like he was just playing around.

"He would keep them from getting off the bus, like pulling the back of their backpacks and grabbing them on their bottoms," the woman said.

The children learned to run from the bus when it reached the YMCA to avoid being grabbed or touched.

"They didn't like the way that it felt, and they were embarrassed," she said.

Another parent whose child is accusing the driver of inappropriate touching said a child initially came forward after school ended and told his mother about it. The parent called other parents to ask their children if anything had happened to them. That's when others began coming forward.

A source told Channel 9 that video from the bus camera is compelling evidence, and the driver's behavior was unquestionably inappropriate.

A statement from CMS said the school district is investigating.