
Jury spares NJ school bus aide in special need girl’s death
🔺NJ special needs child dies on school bus ride
🔺Bus aide on video using phone
🔺Aide faces prison for endangerment
FRANKLIN (Somerset) — A 28-year-old bus aide has been convicted of child endangerment but acquitted of manslaughter in the harrowing seat belt strangulation death of a special needs girl on a school bus in 2023.
Amanda Davila now faces five to 10 years in prison for second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. The Somerset County jury found her not guilty of aggravated and reckless manslaughter in the death of 6-year-old Fajr Williams.
The young girl, who was nonverbal and had a chromosomal disorder known as Emanuel syndrome, was strapped into her motorized wheelchair for the ride to school on the morning of July 17, 2023.
Davila is seen in bus surveillance video wearing two earbuds and looking down at her cell phone as the girl begins to struggle in her wheelchair and ultimately becomes unresponsive.
A nurse at Claremont Elementary School in Franklin Park performed CPR but the child was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Davila and her attorney, Michael Policastro, claimed that the child had been incorrectly buckled into her wheelchair by a relative, which the family disputed.
Others testified that Davila was trained to frequently check on students in her care, to sit across from students in wheelchairs and to always use a shoulder and lap belt with students.
Davila, of New Brunswick, testified that she should not be incarcerated for up to 20 years for a “mistake.”
"Even if she was found guilty on all counts, I still wouldn't have closure because I still don't have my child," mother Najmah Nash said outside the court, 6ABC Action News reported.
In November 2023, Davila rejected a plea deal that carried a 10-year prison term for manslaughter.
She will be sentenced in March.
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