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American Morning

Caught on Tape?

Aired May 07, 2003 - 07:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A school bus driver in Milwaukee is being accused of threatening and beating one of his passengers, a 9- year-old boy with Down's syndrome. His name is Jacob.
And joining us this morning from Milwaukee are Jacob's parents, Rosemary and Vince Mutulo, and they are joining us now.

Thanks so much for being here. I want to ask you what it was -- and Jacob is with you, too as well. What was it that made you put a tape recorder in Jacob's backpack?

VINCE MUTULO, JACOB'S FATHER: His behavior in school had been deteriorating over the year, and we were constantly getting complaints from the bus driver and written complaints that he was being -- he was misbehaving in and on the school bus. And so, it was just before Easter -- it was just after Easter break that the very first day he was on the bus on Monday he got written up again, and we both said, this is enough. We've got to find out what Jacob's behavior is.

COLLINS: Right, and so...

V. MUTULO: And so, the reason for putting it on was to find his behavior.

COLLINS: Exactly. What did you hear on that tape?

V. MUTULO: Horrible stuff. Threats of beating the living hell out of him. "I'm going to break your arm." "I'm going to break your finger." I'm going to tape your mouth shut."

ROSEMARY MUTULO, JACOB'S MOTHER: "I'm going to tape your mouth shut." You can hear him being slapped.

V. MUTULO: Yes.

COLLINS: Vince and Rosemary, I know this is very difficult for you to hear, but I want to go ahead and give our viewers a sense of exactly what we are talking about here. So, we have a little bit of that recording.

Let's go ahead and listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more of your crap, Jacob. Put that seat belt down. Now!

JACOB MUTULO, ABUSED BY BUS DRIVER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now!

J. MUTULO: No!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to smack the hell out of you.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COLLINS: Was this at all what you expected to hear on that tape?

R. MUTULO: No. If I had even had a suspicion of the bus driver in any way abusing my son, he wouldn't have been on the bus. I would have never put him on the bus thinking that he might be abused so that we could catch the bus driver. I would have pulled him off the bus.

COLLINS: Is there anything about Jacob's behavior in the nine years that you've known him that would make you think that he couldn't have acted up in the way that the bus driver was claiming?

R. MUTULO: Jacob is just such a loving child, and he began to be aggressive at school as well, and we knew this wasn't Jacob. This just wasn't Jacob. And it was constant, all year long, complaints, complaints, and it just wasn't Jacob.

COLLINS: Rosemary, I'm understanding that...

V. MUTULO: And Jacob...

COLLINS: ... he might have been restrained in some sort of way on the bus?

R. MUTULO: Yes. He's always in a harness for his own protection. It zippers in the back and it clips at his two shoulders and at his waist, and then the seat belt goes through the portion there where my husband is showing. So, Jacob could not have moved out of his seat. He sat on the right side of the bus, far away from the bus driver. And so, he was helpless when the bus driver came at him -- stopped the bus and came after him. There was nowhere for Jacob to go.

COLLINS: Vince, have you talked with school officials about this? Do they have anything to offer?

V. MUTULO: We haven't really discussed anything but other than where we started with, with our alderman and our school representative, who is a member of the school board. And they both then were instrumental in getting this going in the right spot.

The main reason for why we're really doing this anyway is to protect these children that are, as we call them...

R. MUTULO: Silent victims...

V. MUTULO: Yes.

R. MUTULO: ... who can't speak for themselves.

COLLINS: How are you going to do that?

R. MUTULO: We have to do something. We want to put -- want to see that video cameras are on all buses for special education children, because they cannot speak for themselves. And a video camera is an impartial witness. There is no reason not to put them on the bus. They need to be there to protect the children.

V. MUTULO: Exactly.

COLLINS: Will you ever let Jacob ride to school on a bus again?

R. MUTULO: Well, if I do, it will be with a tape recorder in his backpack, and everyone will know that we'll know exactly what's going on. But it's not -- it won't be until Jacob is ready, if he ever is, to ride the bus again to school.

COLLINS: And we're happy to see him this morning as well. Hi, Jacob.

V. MUTULO: Say hi.

R. MUTULO: Can you say hi? No?

COLLINS: No.

R. MUTULO: Can you smile? No, you're not going to smile?

COLLINS: Once again, we appreciate...

R. MUTULO: Did you get up too early?

COLLINS: ... all of you being with us this morning, Rosemary and Vince Mutulo, and of course Jacob as well. Thanks so much for sharing your story.

V. MUTULO: Thank you.

R. MUTULO: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired May 7, 2003 - 07:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A school bus driver in Milwaukee is being accused of threatening and beating one of his passengers, a 9- year-old boy with Down's syndrome. His name is Jacob.
And joining us this morning from Milwaukee are Jacob's parents, Rosemary and Vince Mutulo, and they are joining us now.

Thanks so much for being here. I want to ask you what it was -- and Jacob is with you, too as well. What was it that made you put a tape recorder in Jacob's backpack?

VINCE MUTULO, JACOB'S FATHER: His behavior in school had been deteriorating over the year, and we were constantly getting complaints from the bus driver and written complaints that he was being -- he was misbehaving in and on the school bus. And so, it was just before Easter -- it was just after Easter break that the very first day he was on the bus on Monday he got written up again, and we both said, this is enough. We've got to find out what Jacob's behavior is.

COLLINS: Right, and so...

V. MUTULO: And so, the reason for putting it on was to find his behavior.

COLLINS: Exactly. What did you hear on that tape?

V. MUTULO: Horrible stuff. Threats of beating the living hell out of him. "I'm going to break your arm." "I'm going to break your finger." I'm going to tape your mouth shut."

ROSEMARY MUTULO, JACOB'S MOTHER: "I'm going to tape your mouth shut." You can hear him being slapped.

V. MUTULO: Yes.

COLLINS: Vince and Rosemary, I know this is very difficult for you to hear, but I want to go ahead and give our viewers a sense of exactly what we are talking about here. So, we have a little bit of that recording.

Let's go ahead and listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more of your crap, Jacob. Put that seat belt down. Now!

JACOB MUTULO, ABUSED BY BUS DRIVER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now!

J. MUTULO: No!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to smack the hell out of you.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COLLINS: Was this at all what you expected to hear on that tape?

R. MUTULO: No. If I had even had a suspicion of the bus driver in any way abusing my son, he wouldn't have been on the bus. I would have never put him on the bus thinking that he might be abused so that we could catch the bus driver. I would have pulled him off the bus.

COLLINS: Is there anything about Jacob's behavior in the nine years that you've known him that would make you think that he couldn't have acted up in the way that the bus driver was claiming?

R. MUTULO: Jacob is just such a loving child, and he began to be aggressive at school as well, and we knew this wasn't Jacob. This just wasn't Jacob. And it was constant, all year long, complaints, complaints, and it just wasn't Jacob.

COLLINS: Rosemary, I'm understanding that...

V. MUTULO: And Jacob...

COLLINS: ... he might have been restrained in some sort of way on the bus?

R. MUTULO: Yes. He's always in a harness for his own protection. It zippers in the back and it clips at his two shoulders and at his waist, and then the seat belt goes through the portion there where my husband is showing. So, Jacob could not have moved out of his seat. He sat on the right side of the bus, far away from the bus driver. And so, he was helpless when the bus driver came at him -- stopped the bus and came after him. There was nowhere for Jacob to go.

COLLINS: Vince, have you talked with school officials about this? Do they have anything to offer?

V. MUTULO: We haven't really discussed anything but other than where we started with, with our alderman and our school representative, who is a member of the school board. And they both then were instrumental in getting this going in the right spot.

The main reason for why we're really doing this anyway is to protect these children that are, as we call them...

R. MUTULO: Silent victims...

V. MUTULO: Yes.

R. MUTULO: ... who can't speak for themselves.

COLLINS: How are you going to do that?

R. MUTULO: We have to do something. We want to put -- want to see that video cameras are on all buses for special education children, because they cannot speak for themselves. And a video camera is an impartial witness. There is no reason not to put them on the bus. They need to be there to protect the children.

V. MUTULO: Exactly.

COLLINS: Will you ever let Jacob ride to school on a bus again?

R. MUTULO: Well, if I do, it will be with a tape recorder in his backpack, and everyone will know that we'll know exactly what's going on. But it's not -- it won't be until Jacob is ready, if he ever is, to ride the bus again to school.

COLLINS: And we're happy to see him this morning as well. Hi, Jacob.

V. MUTULO: Say hi.

R. MUTULO: Can you say hi? No?

COLLINS: No.

R. MUTULO: Can you smile? No, you're not going to smile?

COLLINS: Once again, we appreciate...

R. MUTULO: Did you get up too early?

COLLINS: ... all of you being with us this morning, Rosemary and Vince Mutulo, and of course Jacob as well. Thanks so much for sharing your story.

V. MUTULO: Thank you.

R. MUTULO: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.