Former Wake school bus driver: 'I'm not gonna punch no child in no stomach'
A former Wake County school bus driver charged with assaulting two children on her bus says she did not touch either child.
Posted — Updated“I'm not gonna punch no child in no stomach, that’s crazy,” Jacqueline Dennis said Tuesday.
Dennis, 50, is accused of punching a 7-year-old boy in the stomach, twisting his arm, grabbing the back of his neck and shoving him off her school bus during an incident on May 12, according to an arrest warrant. She is also accused of shoving an 8-year-old boy into the metal frame of the school bus window.
The only thing Dennis says she remembers is a kindergartner getting upset at one point.
“He was on the second step and I said ‘where are you going’ and he said ‘leave me alone,’” she said. “I went on and didn’t think anything else of it.”
Dennis was filling in for another school bus driver that day.
The Wake County Public School System placed Dennis on non-driving duty on May 13. She resigned from her job on June 19, three days before a warrant for her arrest was issued.
Dennis said she was blindsided by the charges. Her next court appearance is scheduled for August.
“Two charges on two kids I know nothing about,” she said. “I am not going to lose any sleep over this because I know I did not do this.”
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