Georgia parents face charges for storming school bus after claiming driver locked kids inside without AC

Three Georgia adults face criminal charges after forcing their way onto a school bus to remove children they claimed had been locked inside by the driver for more than half an hour without air conditioning.The incident unfolded at the Highland Trace Apartments in Lumpkin County — about an hour outside Atlanta — when a substitute school bus driver was dropping off children from Cottrell Elementary School on Monday, according to the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s OfficeThe driver, who has eight years of experience and was working the route for the first time, allowed students assigned to the first of two designated stops at the apartment complex to leave the bus, but instructed a student assigned to the second stop to return to the bus when they exited early, police said.As the substitute driver tried to get the children on the bus to settle down so they could continue the route, parents approached the bus and demanded that more children be let off.The driver tried to explain that those children were assigned to another stop and needed to stay seated so the bus could move on, but tensions only grew.Parents then crowded outside the bus, speaking to the children through the windows, and the “student’s behavior escalated.”As the situation grew out of control, the driver called the school for help, and another bus driver was sent to assist.The students activated the emergency-release mechanism and adults boarded the bus and removed the children.The adults accused the driver of holding the kids for more than 30 minutes without turning on the air conditioning.However, investigators quickly determined those claims were false — and that the children onboard had been out of control before the bus even left school grounds.The children were accused of “yelling, fighting, moving between seats, throwing objects, and refusing to follow instructions,” which forced school administrators and an assistant principal to board the bus on “multiple occasions.”Video obtained...