Marietta Schools Fire Bus Driver After Video System Vanishes

MARIETTA, GA — A school bus driver has been terminated after a video hard drive went missing from her vehicle, according to media reports. Marietta police discovered the video system had disappeared while investigating a fight two weeks ago on the bus that left two elementary school children injured, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The bus driver, Rosa Smith, had been accused of threatening, cursing and hitting students from Lockheed Elementary School in the Oct. 20 incident on Roswell Road.

Police detectives gathered facts and spoke to witnesses, but determined that there was not enough evidence to seek criminal charges, the AJC reported. No charges were filed against Smith.

Tammy Garnes, a spokeswoman for the Marietta School Distrtrict, said that Smith was released for failing to follow protocols before starting her run on Oct. 20. Bus drivers are required to make sure that their vehicle's video system is operational before they pull out of the garage, she said.

"It was harder to investigate" the Oct. 20 incident, she said, "because there was no tape to prove what happened on the bus."

School officials said the video hard drives are locked aboard each bus, and drivers don't have access to them, the AJC reported.

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