Video of school bus incident raises questions about training

BARTOW (FOX 13) - The Bartow Police Department has released surveillance video from a Polk County school bus on which a 14-year-old girl with special needs had a seizure and stopped breathing.

Several days later, she died.

There are now questions about the emergency training for school bus drivers.

It started off like any other morning. The school bus was on state road 60-heading towards Victory Ridge Academy in Lake Wales.

Then the 14-year-old unexpectedly had a silent seizure that lasted almost three minutes.

STORY: 'Medical event' blamed in death of Bartow child

When the bus attendant noticed, she rushed to her. The driver pulls the bus over, but the situation became more intense.

After calling dispatch, they call 911.

Driver: Is she breathing?

Attendant: She is gasping for air.

Driver: She is gasping for air?

Attendant: Yes.

Emotionally distraught, the bus driver and the attendant stand there, wondering what to do.

“You OK? You OK?” the attendant asks the unresponsive girl. “I don’t know what to do! I don’t even want to touch her!”

Almost 20 minutes after the seizure began, emergency personnel arrive, give CPR and rush the girl off to Bartow Hospital.

She’s then transferred to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Pete, where she eventually died.

Bartow police and Polk County school officials declined to go on camera to talk about what happened.

It's unclear if anything could have been done to save the child's life.

The bus driver, attendant, and their boss told investigators they had no CPR training. However, a spokesperson for the school district said they did have basic CPR training and just went through a refresher course in January.