POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The tragic death of a 6-year-old girl on a school bus in New Jersey has a local father pushing for national safety changes for children with special needs on school buses after his daughter died on a Polk County school bus in 2018.
“It continues to happen,” said David Gautney, talking about the death of Fajr Atiya Williams.
Williams died on a New Jersey school bus last week. According to ABC7, she died after the harness that secured her wheelchair choked her, similar to how Gautney’s daughter, Terissa Joy, died in Lakeland in 2018. The bus monitor was not watching her. Instead, she was on her phone with earbuds in her ear, according to reports.
He said when he hears stories like Williams, it immediately makes him think about his daughter.
“It’s an instant pain,” he said.
Terissa was just 14 when she died. Born with Cerebral Palsy, she was wheelchair-bound and nonverbal. She had a total of 57 surgeries, constantly defying medical odds. But she died on a Polk County school bus.
“It will always be the worst day of my life.”
He said her wheelchair was strapped in, and she had her seatbelt on. However, as the bus started moving, her head somehow got pinned back, and she suffocated to death. According to reports, the bus monitor was sitting in front of her and didn’t notice her until it was too late.
“It continues to happen. Isabella Herrera was in 2012, Terissa Joy — my daughter was 2018, now this girl in New Jersey now, in 2023,” Gautney said. “It has got to stop.”
Gautney and Terissa's mother, Denise Williams, sued the district and won. But money will never be enough.
They pushed for Florida to pass the Terissa Joy Act, which officially became law in 2020. It requires all school bus drivers and aides to receive written instructions about any special conditions or non-medical care that a student may need while on a school bus. Also, all bus drivers and aides have to be trained in CPR and first aid.
"It needs to go further. It needs to go national,” Gautney said. “And you can't put your most vulnerable kids on the back of a school bus. That's the roughest place to ride on a bus. I work on school buses. I know."
He also wants tougher punishments for school districts, bus drivers and monitors when a child dies like his daughter did.
“It’s just gotta stop,” looking down, tearing up, he repeated. “It’s gotta stop.”
We reached out to all local school districts and confirmed that all bus drivers and monitors are trained in CPR and in first aid, per state requirements.
Gautney is still working to make changes and welcomes anyone or any groups that can help him. You can reach him at dvdgautney@gmail.com.
