Carmel bus driver calls student "stupid little bigot"Parents of a Carmel middle school student want a school bus driver fired for calling their daughter a "stupid little bigot." Now, they're suing the school system.
Gene Cox Fox59
8:31 PM EDT, May 25, 2010
Carmel, Ind. - A Carmel bus driver is at the center of a legal dispute for a comment she made to a student in 2008. Now a judge will decide if the driver went too far when reprimanding a middle schooler.
Video of the incident shows the bus driver calling the student "a stupid little bigot" after the two disagreed on abortion and gay marriage. It happened one day after President Barack Obama was elected.
Parents of the student want the driver fired. Betty Campbell reportedly made the comment after a middle school girl told other students on the bus they were going to hell if they believed in gay marriage. Her parents say their little girl never said that.
"She's been affected by this in a negative way at a core level that we're trying to get her back from, and we haven't been able to do it," said the girl's father, Ed Zimmer.
According to the surveillance video, the bus driver told the girl: "I don't want to hear one more word about anyone going to hell if they're gay or if they're Buddhist or whatever cause it's none of your damn business."
"I'm not trying to be mean but you can't talk like that to people. I have heard you darling. It's not like I have never heard you," Campbell said in the video.
However, Zimmer said during a deposition, and while she was under oath, Campbell admitted she had never heard the girl talk about gays going to hell.
"Their reaction to this one is I think honestly, 'let's not do what's right. Let's protect ourselves against a lawsuit and we can strong arm the Zimmers,'" said Zimmer.
The facts of the case go back to late 2008. The Zimmer's daughter said she did explain on the bus that day that she would not have voted for President Obama because of his views on abortion or same sex marriage.
Attorneys for the school district did not want to comment on pending litigation, but we did uncover a 2009 letter from the district to the family saying in part that Carmel Clay Schools does not condone the incidents or believe that Betty Campbell is a perfect employee, however they have refused to fire her.
A civil lawsuit is set for trial this December.
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