Edmonton boy, 10, has head injuries, broken arms after 'incident' on school bus

An Edmonton family is demanding answers after a 10-year-old boy with disabilities was dropped off from school with two broken arms and injuries to his head and face.

The Abbas family said something was clearly wrong when Youssef arrived home on a Stock Transportation school bus on Feb. 24.

"He had a bump on his head that’s probably comparable to the size of an apple and he was just screaming and then he’d stop crying and he was just not there," Layal Abbas, the boy’s sister, said.

"They said he had fallen asleep and just bumped his head," she said of a call the family received from the bus company before it arrived.

An ambulance was called by the family shortly after Youssef got home because he, who is non-verbal, started seizing.

The boy was left with head and facial injuries, scrapes, bruises and two broken arms.

Stollery Children's Hospital officials started their own investigation, Youssef's father said.

"The story wasn’t lining up with the injuries they were seeing," said Abbas Abbas, the boy’s father.

"He uses his hands to walk, so basically he’s immobilized. He just lays [sic] down right now and we try our best to make it comfortable for him."

Youssef Abbas, 10, after an 'incident' on his school bus on Feb. 24, 2022. (Source: Abbas family)

The family called Stock Transportation back and was then given a different story by the bus company, Layal Abbas said.

She claims the family was told that the driver slammed on the brakes to avoid running a yellow light and the seatbelts failed.

"And that Youssef’s wheelchair toppled over and his head slammed into the metal railing at the front of the bus and he was pinned to the floor under his wheelchair," Layal Abbas recalled.

'A RESPONSIBILITY WE TAKE VERY SERIOUSLY'

Stock Transportation issued a statement to CTV News Edmonton, through a spokesperson, which acknowledged the "incident," but did not offer any explanation of what happened.

“An investigation is underway pertaining to the incident, which involves our company, local authorities and the Edmonton public school board,” Edward P. Flavin wrote.

A spokesperson for Edmonton Public Schools confirmed the division is aware of the injuries and involved in the investigation.

"Working with our transportation carriers to ensure students are safe while they are being transported to and from school is priority for the division, and a responsibility we take very seriously. The school continues to support the family directly in every way they can," Anna Batchelor wrote in a statement.

The Abbas family wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to another child, and are now exploring legal options.

"We need to know exactly what happened. Either something went wrong or someone may have did something wrong but there’s a lot more information that needs to be gathered," said Khalid Assaf, the family’s lawyer.

Youssef is now at home recovering, but his family said he continues to have seizures, he now needs 24-hour care, and he's scared.

"Seeing buses on his cartoons and he freaks out. If we mention the story in front of him he’ll start shaking and he’ll start crying," Layal Abbas said:

"He's got a long road to rehabilitation," Abbas Abbas said. "We wanna make sure no other kid goes through this on a school bus. They're kinda the most vulnerable people in society."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson