Sanford mom arrested for confronting bus driver says police used excessive force

**LONGWOOD — **The Sanford mom charged with trespassing school grounds and resisting arrest wants the charges dropped and her record cleared.

Laura Booker and her attorney, Mark Nation, spoke with News 13 at Nation’s Longwood Law Office.

Last week, Booker was arrested by Sanford Police after she refused to get off her daughter’s school bus.

According to the Seminole County School District, parents are not allowed on school buses. School officials consider it trespassing.

Booker said she needed to speak with the bus driver, whom her daughter said was verbally attacking her. Booker said she did not know she wasn’t allowed on the bus.

The bus driver told her if she didn’t leave, he would call the police. Police were called and physically removed Booker from the bus. They then placed her on the ground and handcuffed her.

Booker said she is frustrated with the school district because they ignored the fact her daughter was bullied. Booker said she has been trying to speak with school officials since the beginning of the school year, but her requests have been repeatedly ignored.

The mom said she also went to school officials with concerns that a pedophile was hanging around her daughter’s bus stop. Booker said nobody called her back.

Booker is also unhappy with the Sanford Police Department.  She said when police arrived to the scene, they used excessive force.

Booker says, “So when the officer showed up, in my opinion, aggressively- I could be wrong for saying it, I was surprised and I could be wrong again, but this is what I observed- ‘Get off the bus’ and people are snatching me and I don’t understand how I could be resisting arrest when I didn’t know I was being arrested.”

At this point, Nation says he isn’t looking to sue the school district or Sanford Police.

He hopes to hear from the state attorney’s office Thursday whether these charges will be dropped.