Florida detectives with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office announced have arrested a school bus monitor on 32 counts of child abuse.
The case involves James Charles Brunson, 26, and four special needs children, ages 7 to 9, who were allegedly under his care during bus routes to and from Sorrento Elementary School.
Eustis-resident Brunson was arrested on June 28 and booked into the Lake County Detention Center, with no bond.
The sheriff’s office involvement began when it received a report on May 17, after the Department of Children & Families received the initial allegations and opened a case.
The sheriff’s office noted that “detectives have been investigating this incident and ultimately applied for and obtained an investigative subpoena for video footage from the May 15 bus routes.”
Detectives reviewed the school bus video they obtained, which detectives said showed “Brunson physically abusing four of the children on the bus.
“The abuse consisted of grabbing victims by the face and forcefully twisting their heads, pulling and twisting their arms, pushing them against the wall of the bus, placing a shoe over one victim’s mouth, and stretching one victim’s leg up over his head. Brunson also forcefully pulled on the harnesses of the restraint seats for no apparent reason,” the law enforcement agency added.
