Woman cited for driving on sidewalk to avoid stopping for Cleveland school bus

CLEVELAND - The mother of the driver of the Jeep that was ticketed by Cleveland police Tuesday morning for driving on the sidewalk to avoid stopping for a school bus said her daughter made the move to "give that bus plenty of room."

Toni Hardin was in the passenger seat of the SUV driven by her daughter Shena Hardin, 32, when she said they came upon the bus on East 38th Street between Superior and Payne, which had stopped to pick up a handicapped child.

"The bus, for some reason, takes an inordinate amount of time talking to the parent or whatever everyday, but he takes forever," Hardin said.

"While he's doing all that we're waiting trying to get through. Now this morning, she was late she was trying to get her daughter to school, the reason for going around and going to the side was to give that bus plenty of room."

Hardin said she drives the street every day with her daughter on their way to work, but denied ever having gone on the sidewalk before.

"Today was the first day she did that and that was a bad move today," Hardin said.

But a Cleveland Metropolitan School District bus driver had captured video of the Jeep driving on the sidewalk on another day and contacted police, who were waiting Tuesday morning and pulled Hardin over citing her for not stopping for the school bus.

The mother of the handicapped child the bus had stopped to pick up said this has been going on for a long time.

"No she did it all last school year. I was over there February of last year she did it ever since then," said Lucy Kelley. Nothing was done last year though she added. "No, the bus driver didn't do it last year, but I had a new bus driver this year."

That bus driver, Uriah Herron, is credited by supervisors for his quick thinking to nab the driver on camera.

"We had a very conscientious driver for 30 years. He really cares about his children and he took the extra step that this doesn't happen again," said CMSD Bus Manager Eric Taylor.