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A fired school bus driver for Reynolds School District filed a wrongful termination and negligence lawsuit against the district in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Monday. Debra Madtson contends she was terminated after reporting that another bus driver sexually assaulted her in her bus in February 2015.

(Aimee Green|The Oregonian/OregonLIve)

A bus driver who was fired from the Reynolds School District after she reported being sexually assaulted on her bus by a fellow driver has filed a $2.5 million wrongful termination suit against the district.

Debra Madtson, who drove a school bus for the district for 17 years, reported the alleged assault in February 2015 to the district and to Gresham police the following morning. No charges were ever filed against the other driver, who drove a bus for special education students.

The alleged assault was caught on the district's bus cam video. The lawsuit claims that Madtson could be heard saying "no'' and "stop'' multiple times during the encounter with the other driver, yet police and the district concluded the sex was consensual. The suit is filed against the district, but not the other driver.

Gresham Police Officer Matthew Fagan wrote in a police report that he interviewed the other driver, who said the sex was consensual and denied assaulting Madtson. Fagan found the male driver's account consistent with the video. A Multnomah County deputy district attorney agreed, citing inconsistencies in Madston's account and declined to prosecute.

The district fired both drivers. In a March 13, 2015, letter, the district found Madtson's conduct "unprofessional and inappropriate for any workplace, but particularly a school bus parked in a public location.''

"I was in shock. I never thought I was going to be fired. I was assaulted on my bus,'' Madtson said in an interview Monday. Madtson also said she wanted to be named for this story.

The district withheld unemployment benefits from Madtson, contending the firing was due to her "willful conduct." Madtson appealed and an administrative law judge who heard testimony from Madtson, police and the school district overruled the district's findings in mid-June 2015.

The alleged assault occurred about 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2015, when Madtson was between middle school and high school routes and had parked her bus in a vacant lot near Northeast 180th Avenue and San Rafael Street. Suddenly, another bus driver appeared at the door to her bus, she said. She opened the door to find out what he wanted, and he told her, "We're gonna do this right now.''

Video showed the other driver entered Madtson's bus and started to walk toward the back. When Madtson didn't follow, he turned, placed his hands around her upper arms and tugged her toward him, according to the administrative law judge's description of the recording. Her hands were pressed against his shoulders and can be seen "exerting slight resistance against his pull.'' The male driver pivoted Madston into a bus seat and lay on top of her, the judge wrote.

The administrative law judge wasn't convinced the sexual encounter was consensual. He considered that Madtson reported the conduct to the district right away, had reported prior concerns about this driver's harassing behavior and groping and pointed to moments on the video where Madtson tried to resist the other driver's actions.

The judge also cited the testimony of a licensed clinical social worker who counseled Madtson afterward. The social worker said Madtson, a survivor of sex abuse as a child, reported "blanking out'' in the bus. That's a known survival mechanism for childhood victims of sex abuse, the social worker said in finding that Madtson's "acquiescence to her co-worker's insistence on sex was not consensual or a conscious decision on her part.''

"The video certainly demonstrates that claimant was an active participant in the encounter. However, that demonstrates, at most, her acquiescence to a situation she was facing alone on a bus parked in an isolated parking lot; it does not demonstrate her consent,'' administrative law judge Christopher C. Dorr wrote. "Furthermore, there are several points during the encounter where it appears claimant is resisting, and one where she is swatting'' the other driver away.

The ruling gave Madtson some comfort. "I finally felt vindicated - that somebody believes me, that somebody outside of it sees the truth,'' she said.

Madtson, 49, now is suing her former employer for negligence, assault and battery and sexual discrimination in Multnomah County Circuit Court. She seeks $2.5 million in economic and non-economic damages.

"They need to be held accountable for messing with somebody's livelihood and well-being,'' Madtson said. "I didn't ask for that man to stomp onto that bus. I didn't ask to be assaulted. They need to be held accountable for the damage they've done.''

Andrea Watson, spokeswoman for the Reynolds School District, said the district immediately reported the matter to local police and conducted its own investigation into Madtson's reported assault. "We believe that our response was appropriate,'' Watson said Monday. She said the district hasn't seen the lawsuit yet.

The lawsuit, filed by Madtson's attorney Christopher J. Graves, alleges that Madtson's firing was improper and that the investigation into what happened on the bus was faulty. It also contends the district was negligent in hiring the male driver, who had faced two domestic related-restraining orders in the past, and failed to properly supervise him after receiving warnings of prior sexual harassment against Madtson.

Once Madtson reported the assault to the Gresham police officer on Feb. 5, 2015, she left the district transportation office briefly to compose herself and have a cigarette. When she returned, she said, she found the officer watching the video of her alleged assault together with the school district's human resources director and other district employees.

"I couldn't believe what was happening,'' she said. "I was utterly humiliated.''

Madtson said she had planned to retire from Reynolds School District, having driven a school bus for nearly two decades. She never expected to lose her livelihood. "Everything fell apart,'' she said. "I loved my job.''

She said she got another job briefly driving a school bus for the David Douglas School District, but wasn't comfortable behind the wheel, and ultimately changed her career and is now driving semi-trailer trucks. "I felt like I was always watching my back,'' she said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian