UPDATE: More details emerge on bus incident showing driver was punched in face.



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WORCESTER -- It's unclear what happened before the video started, but what happened afterward one parent could only describe as "terrifying."

Video shot by a parent of a Quinsigamond Elementary School student Wednesday afternoon of what should have been a routine school bus stop showed young children crying and screaming, seemingly unable to leave the school bus they were riding in as parents shouted at the driver to let them off.

In the video, shot near the corner of Perry Ave. and Harlem Street by parent Jessica Jimenez, parents curse and shout at the driver asking why she won't let the kids off while children complain that they're unable to leave. The bus door is seen shut with some kids standing near a couple of the open windows.

"It's hot in here," one kid can be heard saying, while a few others can be heard calling out for their parents.

After more than five minutes into the video of the standoff (it's unclear how soon before the video the confrontation started), parents and children begin panicked shouts and cries as the bus started back up and began to move forward.

"Oh, my god, don't leave with my kid. Don't leave with my kid," Jimenez shouted.

Several parents blocked the bus while Jimenez can be heard telling the kids to open the emergency door on the back of the bus.

"Open it. Go, go, go," Jimenez shouts as other parents joined in encouraging their kids to jump out the back, also shouting "Go."

With the bus alarm blaring, children piled out the back of the bus crying, wailing and calling out for their parents as adults continued to shout.

"To see my two children trapped that way, helpless as I felt, was terrifying," Nicole Prizio told MassLive. Her two children, ages 8 and 10 were on the bus.

Parents say police and school officials arrived on the scene shortly after.

"It was miserable for everyone," Prizio said. "Never imagined that would have happened."

But what exactly did happen is still unclear. According to the school department, Worcester police are investigating the incident.

A statement from the school department also paints a very different picture.

"The driver was attempting to ensure that kindergarten students were matched with the proper parent before releasing them from the school bus," the statement reads. Parents became impatient and insisted that the driver release all the students immediately. When the driver refused, one or more parents started to enter the school bus. The driver informed them that adults are not allowed on the school bus with students on board. They refused to leave and the driver was instructed by the Durham supervisor to close the entrance door. Parents broke the door and entered the school bus."

The statement goes on to state that "the school bus driver was also physically assaulted, struck at least two times in the face."

Parents say the driver of the bus held the children the previous day as well, but not for as long.

"The first day my kids were covered in sweat and very upset, as were all the kids," Prizio said. She said it was her understanding -- as well as that of other parents there -- that the delay was due to a new policy to get kindergarteners off the bus first.

Return to MassLive for more on this developing story.

