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Schools

Inquiry clears driver of child's duct taping claim

An investigator says he found no witnesses to the incident. The bus driver will return to her route.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published December 17, 2005

DUNEDIN - The school bus driver accused earlier this week of duct taping a kindergartener's mouth shut will return to the same route when classes resume after the winter holiday, Pinellas County school officials said Friday.

An investigator with the district found no evidence to support Kyle Gerber's allegation that the driver taped his mouth on the ride home from Dunedin Elementary School Monday, said district spokesman Sterling Ivey.

Investigator Rick Stelljes interviewed 13 students and six adults, including the driver and the adult aide on the bus. None of them reported seeing the alleged incident, Ivey said.

Stelljes, who closed the investigation Friday, was prevented by the family's attorney from questioning the 5-year-old.

"This was a very thorough and comprehensive investigation," Ivey said. "When you have 19 different interviews and no physical evidence recovered, we're very confident in the findings."

The driver was reassigned during the probe. So was the aide, who also will return to the route on Jan. 2, Ivey said. Neither woman has been identified.

The Gerbers' attorney, Louis Kwall, said he wished the driver and aide had taken polygraph tests to eliminate any doubt about their innocence. Regardless of the district's findings, he said the family continues to believe Kyle's account.

"Aside from the polygraph, I was satisfied with the investigation that was done," he said. "But I don't necessarily agree with the conclusions."

Kwall said the driver and the aide should not resume Kyle's route.

"If you were a parent, would you put your child back on that bus?" Kwall said.

If the driver returns to Kyle's route, Kwall added, the Gerber family will then decide how he'll get to school.

"I can say pretty unequivocally that they don't want any contact between their child and these two people," Kwall said.

On Monday night, the Gerber family reported the boy's allegations to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which opened a criminal investigation. The case was turned over to Stelljes, a sworn law enforcement officer.

There is no footage of what happened on the bus because a video surveillance camera was removed for maintenance, Ivey has said.

Kyle's mother, Kathy, has told the St. Petersburg Times that she noticed a smudge on her son's face as soon as he stepped off the bus. When asked about the gummy residue, Kyle told her that the bus driver had taped his mouth shut because he was talking.

Kyle later related the same story to his father, then again to a sheriff's investigator, his parents said. Throughout, his details were consistent and his fear seemed real, they said.

"As far as Kyle's concerned, it doesn't matter at this point what happened," Kwall said. "I need to make sure that he comes out of this as positively as possible."

Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 727 445-4156 or jfries@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 17, 2005, 01:00:13]