Family sues Lake Orion Community Schools after a former bus aide harmed child
Lake Orion family sues after incident involving bus aide
A 12-year-old boy with special needs was riding the bus home from Paint Creek Elementary in May 2025. In the video, the boy is screamed at when he has his arm bent violently over the bus seat by the bus aide, somebody who is supposed to help him.
LAKE ORION. Mich. (FOX 2) - A civil lawsuit was filed against Lake Orion Community Schools after a former bus aide was sentenced for harming a child with special needs. The incident happened in 2025 and was caught on video which FOX 2 has obtained.
Big picture view:
A 12-year-old boy with special needs was riding the bus home from Paint Creek Elementary in May 2025. In the video, the boy is screamed at when he has his arm bent violently over the bus seat by the bus aide, somebody who is supposed to help him.
William Pearson Junior is the former bus aide in that video, who was charged with multiple crimes and resigned from Lake Orion Schools after this happened. This week he was sentenced to 18 months probation after pleading no contest to a child abuse charge.
Shortly after, the 12-year-old's family filed a civil lawsuit against Pearson and the district.
What they're saying:
Here’s what the family’s attorney had to say.
"You see this video, it’s got you appalled, the hair on the back of your neck stand up thinking, what if that was my child," Attorney Todd Flood said. "There will be triggering events for him so he has to go through a lot of therapy. He has to have, you know, extra care given to him now by his parents, you know, on and off the bus if he so chooses to take a bus. But realistically this is gonna be a long-term ordeal for him because it’s an indelible imprint on his mind."
The other side:
The school district does not comment on litigation.
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The Source: FOX 2 used information from Attorney Todd Flood in this report.