Student cellphone video from inside a Calaveras Unified school bus after the driver pulled over on Highway 49 near Russell Road in Calaveras County, California, on August 24, 2026. Recorded by a student on board.
Kids got rowdy on the ride home. A 12 year old on the bus said students were screaming and excited to get off. One student climbed out a window. The driver stopped, told everyone to sit, roll the windows up, and wait for deputies instead of letting anyone off. Students called parents. Nichole Wellington said her son phoned her scared and stuck. She went to the door, the driver would not open it, and she told him to climb out. Another parent, Rebecca Glover, told her children to stay seated because the driver had every child on the bus to consider.
The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office said a parent struck the bus door, breaking the glass, and was taken into custody at the school district’s request on suspicion of vandalism. Video then shows an adult woman climbing in through an already open side window and confronting the driver. Officials have not confirmed that the woman in the clip is the person arrested. Later reports, including CBS Sacramento, said no windows were broken. The damage was to the door glass, not a side window.
Superintendent Kassandra Meeks said the driver followed district protocol and that bus windows are emergency exits only. The district later said the bus was stopped about four minutes to address behavior before the parent began hitting the door. Parent and student accounts described a longer hold.
Watch What Happened:
