A child fell out of moving bus on the way to school according to Horry district lawsuit

A lawsuit against the Horry County School District was filed Tuesday, claiming that a child fell out of a moving bus on the way to school in February.

Jamie Sharpe, who filed the suit on behalf of her seven-year-old daughter, is being represented by Attorney Alonzo J. Holloway, of Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers.

“We preferred to avoid a lawsuit, however, we didn’t receive any response to our emails or calls to the school district for about three to four months now, so we were compelled to file this lawsuit,” Holloway said.

The school district declined a request for comment made by The Sun News.

On Feb. 15, an Horry County school bus driver was on the Carolina Forest Elementary School bus route when a child fell out of the moving bus through the emergency exit door, according to the lawsuit. The bus was moving at 20 miles an hour on Wild Wing Boulevard, Holloway said.

As a result, the child struck her head and sustained road rash on her hands and body. The child has suffered a concussion as well, he said.

Before the child fell out, the bus driver failed to perform a sufficient pre-trip inspection, failed to ensure students were in assigned seats, failed to provide supervision and did not address horseplay and raucous behavior, the lawsuit says.

The horseplay and raucous behavior, where elementary school students were repeatedly teasing and hitting the student, is what led to her falling out, according to the lawsuit.

After the child fell out, the bus driver continued operating the bus for about 30 seconds before another student informed him of what happened, even after emergency alarms went off. Only then did he stop, the lawsuit says.

Sharpe is asking for any and all damages under the Tort Claims Act — a South Carolina law that is the “exclusive and sole remedy for any tort committed by an employee of a governmental entity while acting within the scope of the employee’s official duty,” the South Carolina Statehouse website says.

Holloway explained that the Torte Claims Act limits the amount of liability a government entity has in cases of personal injury. In this case, the maximum amount of damages Sharpe could receive is up to $300,000, he said.

Next, the Horry County School District will file an answer, and then both parties will go into discovery as the next step in the legal process.

This article was updated on Jan. 12, at 1:30 p.m.

This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 2:58 PM.