Racial Slurs, Punches Fly Between Parents and OKC School Bus Driver

By Rusty Surette, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY – A racially motivated fight broke out on a John Marshall High School bus, and reports say parents and the bus driver were also involved.

As the school bus pulled into the intersection at N.W. 69th Street and Drexel Boulevard, a large fight broke out on board the bus. Witnesses say several black students and a white student began fighting.

That's when the bus driver, who's black, tried to break up the fight, but the parents of the white student saw the fight and also jumped on the bus. At that point, witnesses say the parents and the bus driver began fighting and racial slurs were exchanged.

"She attacked my husband and all he was doing was trying to save our daughter," said Carrie Holeman, the mother of the 13-year-old white student involved in the fight. "She then got off the bus, took off her earrings and started calling me 'cracker' and said she was 'going to beat my ass', too."

According to several students on board the bus, it was the father who threw the first punches.

"He hit one of the girls and the bus driver," said an unidentified student.

School officials are investigating whether words or fists were exchanged, but the school district said the bus driver should have never gotten involved.

"Yes, she went against the rules of jumping in the middle of the fight. Also we don't like it when parents just jump on a bus. There are other ways we can calm those type of situations down," said Tierney Cook, the spokeswoman for Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Holeman said her daughter has been harassed for two years by black students at John Marshall High School.

"She has been held against her will in a bathroom, she's been slapped. You name it, they do it. They throw stuff at her. They hit her with things. They throw pencils at her," said Coleman.

Oklahoma City police were called to the scene to help calm things down. No charges have been filed, but police and school district officials are interviewing all parties involved in the fight.

The school district said the bus driver has not had any problems in the past but until the investigation is complete, she will be taken off this route.

Carrie Holeman said her daughter will not be returning to John Marshall High School.

Surveillance cameras are mounted inside 22 of Oklahoma City's school buses, but the bus involved in Monday's incident is not one of them. However, one of the students on board the bus captured some of the fight on a cell phone camera. That video is being reviewed by the Oklahoma City police.