An Idaho bus driver has been fired after troubling footage of her yelling at a Spanish-speaking student and pouring water on his head was released onto the internet.
Student Brayan Alverez secretly filmed driver Mary Black after she got out of her seat to accuse eighth grader Miguel Martinez of influencing his friend to throw a water bottle, which Martinez denied.
“She tried to take his phone away and when she didn’t get to do that, she just grabbed the water bottle and started getting him wet,” Alverez explained.
As Martinez attempted to explain his side of the story, apparently speaking Spanish at one point, Black dumped water on his head and ranted about speaking English.
“I don’t understand Spanish! I’m not going to learn it!” Black said. “I live in America and it’s an English-speaking country. So if you want to speak to me, speak to me in English.”
Representatives from the Northside Bus Company in Jerome, Idaho confirmed to KTVB that driver Mary Black’s position with the company had been terminated.
A father of another student who rode on Black’s bus said that this is by no means the first incident in which Black has demanded that no Spanish be spoken while she’s driving.
“He told me he was told by the bus driver that it was not allowed to speak in Spanish while riding the bus,” Espino said. He tried to report Black before the video went viral, but got no response.
“When I talked to one of the other kids,” Espino said. “He told me that when that took place the driver would turn, when something like that happened, the driver would turn the cameras off.”
Watch the video below via KTVB:
Dantheman