A DeKalb County mother is demanding accountability after her 6-year-old daughter was allegedly dragged off a school bus and left alone in the rain—nearly half a mile from home.
Kaylani Davis, a first-grade student at Flat Rock Elementary School, says she was forcibly removed from her school bus last Monday morning by the driver and abandoned in an unfamiliar neighborhood during a downpour.
The terrifying ordeal ended only when a nearby resident, Iasha Parker, noticed the young girl crying and rushed to help.
“I’m in first grade,” Kaylani told 11Alive’s Angelina Salcedo. “And I’m 6 years old.”
Her mother, Alicia McClendon, said she was stunned to get a call—not from the school, but from a stranger—telling her that her child had been found on the street alone.
“I’m more relieved that my baby made it home to me, but I do need answers,” McClendon said. “It could’ve been handled way better than that.”
According to Kaylani, the bus driver became angry and told her, “You know what, I’m sick and tired of you,” before dragging her off the bus. The child was left to navigate on her own in a heavy rainstorm and had to cross a busy street. Lost and afraid, she began crying and shouting for help—until Parker spotted her.
“She said the bus driver threw me off the bus and I said, ‘Hold on — she did what?’” Parker recalled. “She calmed down, but she’s a child. When she saw her momma, she started crying, and I started crying too.”
McClendon rushed to the school and was shocked to find that neither the bus driver nor any school staff were aware that Kaylani was missing.
She later learned in a meeting with the principal, school resource officers, and transportation supervisors that the driver had allegedly ignored instructions not to let the child off the bus unsupervised.
“Thank you for protecting my baby,” McClendon said to Parker. “Now I’m finna go to Flat Rock and we finna handle this, because this is unacceptable.”
The mother has filed charges, calling for the driver’s termination and arrest.
“She deserves to be behind bars. Fired. Terminated. She needs more because it could’ve been her life,” McClendon said. “I trusted you all with her care. I cannot push that under the rug. I can’t and I won’t.”
In a statement, DeKalb County Schools confirmed that the driver has been placed on administrative leave and is barred from entering school property or operating school vehicles while investigations are ongoing. In addition to the district’s internal probe, the DeKalb County Police Department has launched a criminal investigation.
Since the traumatic incident, Kaylani refuses to ride the bus. Her mother is now personally driving her to and from school until both feel safe again.
