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Arrests made in school bus incident

By Philip Anselmo

An older brother and the father of the 6-year-old boy who brought a loaded hand gun onto a city school bus this morning are in police custody and will likely be sent to jail, city police said at a news conference this afternoon. The boy, a Batavia elementary school student, has been suspended pending an investigation into the incident.

Juan Claudio, 40, of 108 Jackson St., Batavia, was charged with a felony count of fourth-degree possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. David Truesdale, 19, of 28 S. Main St., Batavia, was charged with fourth-degree possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanor counts. Truesdale does not have a prior conviction, therefore his charge of possession is a misdemeanor, explained John Zola, public information officer with the city police. Claudio does have a prior conviction and a criminal history, therefore he was charged with a felony count of possession.

Claudio and Truesdale are accused of being "responsible for the weapon being at the home" of the boy, said Zola, although neither of the men live with the child. The 6-year-old, who is not being named, lives with his mother and his 7-year-old brother in the city of Batavia.

Police are still investigating the owner of the handgun, which is legally registered, though not by either Claudio or Truesdale.

The 6-year-old child brought the gun onto the school bus this morning. When the bus pulled up to the high school to drop off some of the older students on board, the child's 7-year-old brother notified the bus driver.

"The bus driver confronted the 6-year-old and he stated that he did have a gun," said Det. Schauf, in a previously released statement. "The boy pulled the gun out of his pocket and gave it to the bus driver."

No one was threatened by the child with the gun, which was never brandished, said Margaret Puzio, city school superintendent.

"We are very grateful to the bus driver, who was a hero in this situation," said Puzio. "The only thing other students would have seen is the student handing over the gun to the bus driver. But they didn't see it. It was in a sack."

The school's reaction was swift.

"We began by calling every parent of a child who was on the bus when the incident happened," she added. "Phone calls were completed before 8:30 in the morning to tell (the parents) exactly what you learned today, minutes after the arrest."

The Batavian will post video footage from the news conference this evening.

Mugshots: Juan Claudio (top right), David Truesdale (lower left)

Robert Drewinski

The kid figures he is not getting the best value on his education from the government employed teachers. BOE will no doubt increase taxes next year to put metal detectors in the buses and schools. Plus they will have to make up what Gov Patterson is not sending, get ready folks 40 million will be 50 million next year in the city of batavia school taxes.

Dec 17, 2008, 2:51pm Permalink
lazario Ladou

Damn, that's backwards
She says we rely on adults to do their job -paraphrased
and this makes them a hero

The person who takes responsibility in the first place is the hero -the child
The driver -while they did proceed correctly and all that
is being an adult doing their job well
Not saying you shouldn't call him/her a hero if you want to
But you should also commend the 7 year old little kid for doing what the 6 year old kid hadn't
A little kid did the right thing
He realized the gravity
a little kid

To name the driver the hero is like saying the prison system/law enforcement is our greatest hero
The person who doesn't do things needing the attention of those we deem our heroes are the true heroes ..or in this case
those that alert our heroes to dangers who then have to go and perform heroic duties

Dec 17, 2008, 7:27pm Permalink
Katie Elia

I agree, Lazario. I had not thought of that point until you mentioned it. How quickly we overlook our young hero. The seven year old is a hero as well as an amazing , "big brother." I don't recall hearing why the 6 year old brought it in the first place. But regardless...The seven year old obviously understood the severity and spoke up. Protecting his brother as well as the children of the community. :)

Dec 17, 2008, 11:46pm Permalink
DOUGLAS MCCLURG

PISTOLS are for people with pistol permits.last I knew there was a mandatory 5 year sentence for possessing a pistol without a permit.

Is this really news, though?
Lets not make a mountain out of a molehill

GUNS KILL and should be held in the hands of responsible citizens.

this was a preteen with a gun- I consider this a volcanic mountain to see this happening in our community

Dec 18, 2008, 9:35am Permalink
lazario Ladou

I was just making a point sloppily with a half joke

not even a preteen -officially- but a 6 year old child
Does he tie his shoelaces yet? Yet he thinks holding a gun is something he should be interested in doing
He has no real knowledge of guns or what they're capable of
Probably doesn't quite understand what hurt is -that what he knows as pain is perfectly "translatable" "tranfersable"?
equal for others
that dead is forever
He just sees an object that others obviously think is cool ... powerful
Like the new Elmo or like the

You can keep on this path forever and eventhough Elmo dolls don't kill
They do something
something that perhaps shouldn't be so overlooked

But we do overlook

When things like this happen we ask why
However
We are not in the business of finding out why understanding
so we cannot

We are left with one real option

Punishment

punishment is not a solution

Round 2
Round 3...

It's sad but we should be expecting and accepting that it will happen

So what drives our reactions to news like this

and now we have "in our community" creeping into the equation
I don't know where this ends but I don't like the possibilities
I, of course, am just making a mountain out of a molehill
so

Dec 18, 2008, 6:49pm Permalink

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