Bus driver taped disabled child's mouth to silence him

A driver of a De Lijn bus carrying special education children put tape over the mouth of one of the passengers “to stop the noise,” according to reports from various Belgian media.

A complaint has been filed against the driver and the case was referred to police, Le Soir reports. 

The details are still unclear, but the incident took place on a bus between Leuven and Hoeilaart at the beginning of the school year in January, after the winter holidays. 

The 16-year-old, who has an intellectual deficiency, was unable to describe exactly what happened but testimonies from other passengers explained what happened. 

“The driver tied up a pupil with tape to keep him quiet,” one of them said. 

The facts were confirmed by the headmaster of the school which the student in question attends, but the driver's employer claims that the tape was placed on the student's coat, not on his skin. 

De Lijn forwarded the complaint to the driver's employer, denouncing the driver’s “disproportionate” and “intolerable” actions and saying the driver was no longer assigned to transport students.