Girl, 9, Left On Highway; Bus Driver Fired

BOSTON -- A Shrewsbury school bus driver was fired Wednesday after he dropped a 9-year-old off at a busy highway bus stop after she tried to change seats without permission.

Bus Driver Leaves Child On Highway

Melissa Doyle told the Telegram and Gazette that her fourth-grade daughter was forced to get off the bus at Route 9 and South Street at about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday after the girl and some other students changed seats.

"We listened to the bus driver when he said to wait until the other kids get off so you don't get in the way. And we did that and moved to the front seat. And then he just yelled at me to get off the front of the bus. I felt scared of him because he is a big guy," Cyrena Medbury, 9, said.

Medbury lives at the Avalon Shrewsbury apartment complex on Route 20 about a mile away. Route 9, Route 20 and South Street are all heavily traveled roads.

The girl was later picked up by another student from the bus and their father, who drove her home.

The bus driver, Donald P. Davison Jr. of North Grafton, was immediately fired from AA Transportation after the incident, Jim Pankonen, general manager of the company, told the paper.

"It is the worst possible judgment that any bus driver can make," School Superintendent Anthony J. Bent said, adding Davison would never transport school children in Shrewsbury again.

Doyle and Bent said they were unaware of any previous incidents involving the girl on the bus.