Crime
Aide Appeared to Be Sleeping on School Bus When Child Opened Door and Fell Out While It Was Moving
A school bus aide in Las Vegas was arrested last week after a child fell out of the moving vehicle while she appeared to be sleeping.
Carmen Morris, 42, was charged with felony child abuse, neglect or endangerment charge, Las Vegas Justice Court records show, according to a Tuesday, October 27, report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Morris, who has reportedly been a district employee since February 2013 and was working as a special education transportation aide, appeared to be sleeping and/or unaware of what was happening in approximately 19 minutes of video taken on the school bus on October 19.
However, per Fox 5 Las Vegas, a new arrest report said Morris denied being asleep and instead said she experiences motion sickness.
The Review-Journal reported that, while Morris was unaware of her surroundings, a student on the bus removed himself from his harness and crawled toward the back of the bus while it was on the freeway.
At one point, according to the report, the student sat directly behind Morris but then returned to the back of the bus and stood near the rear door as the vehicle exceeded 35 mph.
As the bus approached an intersection, the boy allegedly opened the door — prompting an alarm to sound — and fell out of the bus when it accelerated to 11 mph.
“Carmen was unaware of what was happening inside the bus for about 19 minutes until the alarm sounded and (the boy) fell out,” the report stated, per the Review-Journal.
At that point, it said, “Carmen got up from her seat, realized (the boy) had fallen out, and went out the back door to get him.”
Per Law & Crime, Morris also claimed to authorities that she didn’t notice the boy left his seat because “he moves really fast.”
Morris was taken into custody and booked into the Clark County Detention Center, according to Fox 5, and she is due back in court for her preliminary hearing on February 8, 2027.
It is unclear if she has yet entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on her behalf.
