Bus driver speaks out following attack on JCPS bus

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The bus driver behind the wheel when a 12-year-old was beaten on a Jefferson County Public Schools' bus is now speaking out.

Friday, a woman named Lillian Dixon posted a 15-minute video on Facebook and said she was the bus driver that day and wanted to share what happened.

"I'm speaking my peace and cause this has been weighing heavy on me," Dixon said.

On Sept. 6, cellphone video captured a student punching and kicking Kionni Davis, a student at Kammerer Middle School. In the background, others on the bus cheered and recorded the fight.

In her Facebook video, Dixon said she pulled up to the school around 3:40 p.m. and saw two boys sitting outside the school. One of those boys was Kionni Davis, according to Dixon.

"When that happens I know they either got into it with one of the kids in school, an argument or a fight, or they had issues in the school and they sit outside until the bus comes," said Dixon.

She continued on, and said Kionni warned her students were trying to "jump" him. Dixon said staff was not outside at this point and students from Kammerer had been an issue on her bus since the first day.

"Rest of the kids get on bus, cussing, n-word this, n-word that ... Got the kids on the bus, staff comes outside, tells the kids to sit down, they sit down, I proceeded to go," she said.

Dixon said at this point she begins driving her route. Despite initial reports that said she had gotten on the highway, Dixon said the fighting began before she made it onto the ramp.

"I remember seeing Feeder Supply. That's when the fight broke out. All I heard was a lot of, 'I'm going to shoot up the bus, my people going to do this, my people going to do that,' but I know it involved shooting," Dixon said. "I ended up, before the fight even popped off, I go 'you're not going to fight on my bus, y'all ain't fighting on my bus, I ain't having it.'"

Dixon said the next thing she knows, a boy from the back of the bus walks up to Kionni and starts beating him as she is driving through traffic in the Westport area.

"I'm looking in my mirror yelling 'quit,' you know, 'sit down,' they screamin,' they yellin,' of course, they can't hear me they're recording," Dixon said. "Let's not forget my radio, my radio wasn't working. Earlier that day the radio had went down and supposedly before school let out it came back up. Mine still had no signal. We can't use phones on the bus."

Dixon said she then found a nearby parking lot and pulled in. She said as soon as she put the bus in park the fighting stopped and she checked on Kionni.

Dixon said she then made the decision to return to Kammerer Middle School. When they arrived, she told an assistant the two students had gotten into a fight and needed to be removed from the bus.

"She says, 'I'm not taking them off the bus, you need to take them home,' I said, 'I'm not taking him home looking like that, look at his face,'" Dixon said. "I told him to get up, he gets up, comes to the front, she sees his face and immediately was like, 'oh' and took him off the bus."

Dixon then said she was instructed to take the students home, including the one who beat up Kionni. She also mentioned she drove her routes Monday morning, but was instructed to remain at the compound because the incident was being investigated.

In her Facebook video, Dixon said she resigned Thursday after being given the option to resign or be terminated.

"If they terminated me, they was going to flag my CDL. I worked so hard for that, been through so much, I didn't want them to flag my CDL so I resigned," she said.

Dixon said she felt unsupported by her union and JCPS.

"I honestly feel like I was screwed," she said.

Dixon said other than giving her side of the story, her goal of the video was to reach Kionni's mother, Whitney Davis, who has spoken out since the incident.

"I'm sorry. I am sorry that I didn't work hard enough, if that's what you think from what you've seen. I do not put you at fault for being angry," Dixon said. "I wanted to make this live to reach out to the mother. If you want to text me, you can hit me up on Messenger."

Dixon, Whitney Davis, and JCPS have not responded to our request to comment as of this writing.

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