School bus monitor charged in 6-year-old’s death after bus ride, New Jersey officials say
.jpg "A school bus monitor was arrested and charged in the death of a 6-year-old girl in New Jersey, officials say.")
A school bus monitor was on her cellphone, with earbuds in, as an emergency involving a 6-year-old girl unfolded in the back of the bus, resulting in her death in New Jersey, officials said.
On the way to an extended education program at a school in Franklin Township, the monitor, Amanda Davila, 27, sat herself in the front of the bus after securing the child in her wheelchair in the back of the vehicle — out of her sight on July 17, according to authorities.
Davila was unaware the girl slumped in her chair when the bus drove over some bumps in the road — causing her to become strangled by the harness keeping her in place in the seat, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
“This lady is on the cellphone. (Faja)’s back there fighting for her life. She’s not even looking back,” Wali Williams, the father of the girl, Faja Williams, told CBS New York.
Faja was declared dead at a hospital later that day after Franklin Township police were called to a report of an unresponsive child at a local school around 9:04 a.m., the prosecutor’s office said in a July 20 news release. Officers tried performing CPR on the girl before she was rushed to the hospital, according to officials.
Davila was arrested on July 19 and is facing charges of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, the prosecutor’s office said.
She’s accused of violating her job’s policies and procedures by sitting at the front of the bus, occupied by her phone as Faja suffocated, according to officials.
“I just miss my baby so much and just seems very unreal to me at this time,” Najmah Nash, Faja’s mother, told CBS New York.
Faja was nonverbal and had Emanuel syndrome, according to News 12 New Jersey.
Emanuel syndrome is a chromosomal disorder involving stunted growth, development, intellectual disabilities and other varying symptoms.
Davila is detained in Somerset County Jail, where she awaits a detention hearing, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Franklin Township is about 25 miles northeast of Trenton.
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 10:53 AM with the headline "School bus monitor charged in 6-year-old’s death after bus ride, New Jersey officials say."
.jpg)