One student hospitalized after large fight on Charleston Co. school bus

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - One student has been hospitalized and two others were injured after a “large fight” on a Charleston County school bus.

It all happened Tuesday afternoon in a James Island nieghborhood, according to the Charleston Police Department. All students involved attend James Island Charter High School.

“You could see the whole bus just shaking. It was rattling back and forth," parent Keith Barrus said.

He was at that stop with his wife waiting to pick up their daughter.

The stop is at the intersection of Aruba Circle and Barbados Way.

“I had banged on the door, and [the driver] told me she couldn’t let me in, but said, ‘Call the police," Barrus said. "That’s when I noticed she was trying to separate two girls as another girl was reaching over trying to punch and grab at this other girl. There was boys behind the bus driver, pushing on the bus driver, egging the girls on some more.”

Police officers got to the scene minutes later.

They noticed “the bus driver attempting to hold all of the students on the bus and keep the parties separated,” the incident report said.

They then called for back up because of the number of students on the bus and the large crowd forming around it.

Two students “simultaneously struck [the other student] in the head with closed fists,” the incident report said. “[They] had to be stopped by several other students and the bus driver.”

Once separated, two of the students involved explained to officers “they had a prior disagreement" with the the other student and were planning to fight all day via text messages.

During the fight, one student was stepped on. He or she was transported to MUSC by EMS. One other student sustained injuries to her fingernails and was bleeding from her fingers, the report said. Another student said her hair was pulled and she was struck in the head.

No charges have been filed yet, and all students involved were released to their parents. James Island Charter High School has not responded to requests for comment.

According Durham School Services, the bus driver is doing okay. She was back driving on Wednesday.

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