14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week, a school bus driver saw fit to discipline a blind kid by taking his walking stick away from him and handing him a pool noodle instead. The incident was witnessed by the boy's colleagues, some of who made fun of him.
What's even more disturbing is the fact that, by the looks of it, the school bus driver's superiors initially supported the man's actions. Thus, it took a while for the stick to be returned to the child and for the people involved in this incident to apologize to the kid's family.
Why the bus driver took the boy's walking stick
Information shared with the public says that the 8-year-old boy, identified as Dakota Nafzinger, was left without his cane this past Monday, while on his way home from the Gracemor Elementary School in Kansas City in Missouri, US.
The school bus driver, whose name has not yet been made public, claims that he only took the child's walking stick because he was misbehaving and even went as far as to hit one of his companions with it.
The thing is that, seeing how Dakota Nafzinger was born without eyes, there is no way that he can safely get around without his cane. The boy's parents further explain that the pool noodle the driver offered the boy is of no use to their son, simply because it is too soft for Dakota to feel his way with it.
“Why would you do that? Why would you take the one thing that he’s supposed to use all the time? That’s his eyes,” the 8-year-old boy's mother, Rachel Nafzinger, told the press in an interview, as cited by Daily Mail.
It took a while for the boy to get his cane back
As mentioned, 8-year-old Dakota Nafzinger was left without his cane on Monday. However, it was only a couple of days later, on Wednesday, that the North Kansas City School District apologized to his family and gave his his walking stick back.
Prior to this, a spokesperson for the North Kansas City School District explained that, seeing how the stick was really the property of the Gracemor Elementary School, the bus driver had every right to take it away. Besides, school officials first told the boy that it would take 2 weeks before he could get it back.
In is understood that officials in this part of the US are now busy investigating the incident. It is unclear whether or not the school bus driver who took away the 8-year-old boy's walking stick and handed him a pool noodle instead will be made to pay for his actions.
