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LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As Clark County College District college students head again to class on Tuesday after winter break, a bus driver for the district is out of a job after she was fired and arrested by CCSD police.
The bus driver, Gabriela Martinez-Saldana, was accused of abusing a scholar, however in unique interviews with each that scholar’s household and the bus driver, 13 Motion Information has realized the district could have acted too quickly.
In September of 2022, Martinez-Saldana was persevering with her work as a bus driver for CCSD.
“I believed it was the perfect job I might ever had in my 46 years of life,” Martinez-Saldana stated, however earlier than the tip of the month, her profession got here to an abrupt cease.
On September twenty third, 2022, Martinez-Saldana was ending her ordinary bus route at Superior Applied sciences Academy.
As college students exited the bus, Martinez-Saldana rapidly walked to the restroom inside the varsity. Martinez-Saldana suffers from urinary incontinence and shared she had skilled accidents on the job earlier than.
What she didn’t notice was that 20-year-old particular wants scholar Lewonte Allen remains to be on the bus, asleep in his seat. Lewonte suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. His guardian, Felicia Hayes, says it primarily impacts his consideration span.
In a video launched to Channel 13 by CCSD, you see Martinez-Saldana getting back from the restroom roughly 7 minutes later. She does a fast examine of the aisles and walks previous Lewonte, mistaking him as a clothes merchandise left behind.
Martinez-Saldana buckles into her seat and drives off.
“They at all times go away backpacks and baggage so I walked rapidly previous the seat and I assumed they left a jacket behind as a result of it did not transfer or something. I simply thought they left one thing behind,” she stated.
In the meantime, Lewonte was nonetheless sleeping, lined by his jacket.
It isn’t till her subsequent cease when she realizes he’s on board.
“I spotted and stated ‘oh my goodness!’ I spotted he was there as a result of he began transferring,” Martinez-Saldana stated. She tapped Lewonte on his shoulder, woke him up, and instantly returned him to the varsity.
“My focus at that second was to rapidly go to my supervisor and clarify what had occurred.”
What Martinez-Saldana didn’t know was that it will finally result in her firing and arrest.
“I knew they may reprimand me and presumably even fireplace me, however I by no means in 1,000,000 years thought I might go to jail,” Martinez-Saldana stated.
For weeks whereas the incident was underneath investigation, Saldana informed us she was in fixed contact with the varsity district and her union. She was positioned on paid go away and informed that was commonplace protocol.
However as time handed, her concern grew and he or she says communication dwindled.
Ultimately Martinez-Saldana stated the district suspended her pay and shortly afterwards, faculty district police contacted her requesting a proper assertion.
“I obtained a name from a detective with the CCSD police division. She informed me I wanted to go to the division in individual to provide a press release. I used to be excited as a result of it was the primary time anyone requested me for one,” Martinez-Saldana stated.
Martinez-Saldana requested if her union rep might take part on the dialog and that’s when she stated police informed her the case was prison.
“How might this be prison? For one thing the place no person was damage. I did what I assumed was proper. I used to be devastated,” Martinez-Saldana stated.
Saldana describes that second because the worst of her life saying she felt gutted and empty.
She questioned how that would occur if no person was damage and Lewonte was returned safely to high school. His guardian had the identical questions.
“What did the investigation entail if it did not contain me? The foremost stakeholder for this youngster,” stated Felicia Hayes.
Martinez-Saldana employed an legal professional and was informed she’d have to show herself in. CCSD police arrested her on one rely of abuse of a susceptible individual.
“She did not go away a child. She left a 20-year-old younger man attending an academy that is being ready for the workforce. So, how does she get that cost?” stated Felicia Hayes.
“They put a sequence round my waist and my wrists identical to if I have been a prison,” Martinez-Saldana stated.
Martinez-Saldana was launched hours later, however in accordance with the varsity district’s transparency coverage, her arrest was made public. The previous bus driver says she was humiliated and hopeless.
The household of Lewonte Allen is just not standing beside her and giving her hope. They want solutions from the varsity district and justice for a girl they imagine is harmless
“I will do all I can to assist her get her title again. That is simply so ridiculous,” stated Hayes.
The college district confirmed Martinez-Saldana’s termination and launched a press release studying partially:
“As soon as referred to the district legal professional’s workplace, the matter proceeds by the judicial course of, and CCSD performs no half in figuring out the end result. The DA’s workplace has sole authority to pursue or dismiss costs on a case-by-case foundation. If CCSD police arrests a employees member, the district reviews that data as we do with different worker arrests.”
The Clark County district legal professional’s workplace declined to press costs on this case.
As for Martinez-Saldana, she stated she does not need her job again and doesn’t plan to file a lawsuit, she merely needs to clear her title.
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