Lawsuit: Bus driver squeezed kid's head in door

CHARLESTON - A parent is suing the Kanawha County Board of Education after she claims her son was injured while attempting to exit a school bus.

M.S., individually and as parent and legal guardian of her minor child, M.S., claims on Feb. 14, 2011, the minor M.S., who was then eight years old, was in the process of being transported home and was attempting to leave the school bus when the bus driver closed the bus door and compressed the child's head between the school bus door and the frame of the bus, according to a complaint filed Nov. 6 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

M.S. claims her son suffered serious and permanent physical injuries to his head.

The injuries suffered by the minor M.S. were a direct and proximate result of the bus driver's conduct and required substantial medical treatment, according to suit.

The plaintiff claims KCBOE is vicariously liable for the actions and inactions of the school bus driver.

The bus driver, as an employee of the defendant, owed a duty to the minor M.S. to operate the school bus in a reasonable and prudent manner and breached that duty and caused the minor M.S. injuries, according to the suit.

The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages. She is being represented by Brett J. Preston and Dan R. Snuffer of Preston & Salango PLLC.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 13-C-2071