Woman says Westland bus driver did nothing during attack of grandchild

WESTLAND, Mich. (WJBK) - A woman is furious after her grandchild was attacked on a school bus.

She says the driver saw what was happening in the mid-September attack and did nothing to help. Darcy Young says the child who assaulted her granddaughter was disciplined but administrators told her the bus driver who didn't intervene or get medical attention, did nothing wrong.

"I see a crowd of kids, I thought something was going on and I look over and saw my granddaughter trembling like she was having a seizure or something," Young said. "She was in complete shock." 

Young didn't know what happened to her 12-year-old granddaughter on the bus until another student showed her cell phone video of the attack. The seventh grade Westland Stevenson student was brutally attacked by another girl. She was punched, kicked and dragged by her hair.

"I cried," Young said. "I cried."

She called police and took her granddaughter to the hospital. Maggie was bruised and bloodied, and suffered a concussion. As you can see from the video her granddaughter didn't fight back in fear she would get in trouble.

But Young wanted to know why the bus driver did nothing to stop it. A parent who got on the bus was the one that stopped the violent attack.

"She got back in her bus and went to the next bus stop, didn't do anything," said Young. "A parent got on the bus and had to intervene. At this point no one has called me, nobody has told me anything. Nobody called me to say she was attacked or assaulted. She just dropped her off like it was any other day."

Young said the principal handled the situation well, disciplining the student who attacked her granddaughter. But she claims the bus driver, who didn't help Maggie or even alert authorities, got a pass.

When she asked the Wayne Westland Director of Transportation and Superintendent why, she was shocked at the answer.

"(She said) 'She is in her early 20s and she doesn't have that maternal instinct,'" Young said. "And that right there, I'm like okay maybe she needs bus monitor so she can get that maternal instinct and that experience."

Only now after the fact, was she told a protocol has been put in place to deal with bus situations like this.

"Nobody is taking any accountability," Young said. "The bus driver didn't get into any trouble. My grandchild was not safe on this bus. How many other children are not safe on this bus? I don't want to see this happen again."

FOX 2 left messages with the department of transportation and communications after hours and are waiting to hear back.