Grandma Sees Granddaughter Being Dragged by School Bus, Yells for Driver to Stop & He Keeps Driving

• Six-year-old Chelsea Klepzig was dragged by a bus for almost a mile.
• Her grandmother yelled and flashed her lights at the 78-year-old school bus driver to free Chelsea, but he did not stop.
• After surviving the horrible incident, Chelsea's family could not afford to buy her new shoes and clothes, but she received a special surprise box.

What should have been a usual afternoon for six-year-old Chelsea Klepzig and her grandmother, Estrella Klepzig, turned into a day of terror and trauma.

Chelsea's grandmother was waiting for her granddaughter to get off the school bus when the little girl's arm got stuck to the door, and she was dragged by the bus.

The six-year-old is a first grader at Union Cross Elementary School and was dragged for nearly a mile. When Estralla realized her grandaughter was stuck on the bus, she signaled the driver to stop. "I kept flashing him to stop," she said, but he did not.

Chelsea's legs were dragged the whole way. "[The driver] didn't even give her a chance to move," said Estrella. Chelsea's parents also expressed how worried they were that she would lose her grip and fall under the bus.

But the bus doors seemed strong and tightly kept her body attached. Chelsea fell to the ground when the doors finally opened at the next stop.

Inside Edition investigated and discovered that these incidents are more common than expected. In the last decade, school buses have dragged 31 students in total, and two died. Now Chelsea has become part of this horrifying statistic.

Luckily, the six-year-old was not severely injured, but the emotional impact on her and her family was a lot to process.

Why Did the Driver Keep Driving?

The driver was a 78-year-old man, unaware that Chelsea was stuck to the door. However, her parents pointed out that the driver did not follow protocol. He was meant to wait and ensure that Chelsea had crossed the road, but neither the 78-year-old nor the 17 other students on the bus, noticed that the little girl was being dragged.

According to reports, the bus driver was hired as a substitute driver in 2000; since the incident, he has been suspended without pay and recommended for dismissal.

As for Chelsea's parents, they confessed that the news came to them as a shock. Her father, John, said, "It scared me. I didn't know how to react to it. Just to realize what had happened to her, it just tore me up."

The first grader's pants, socks, and shoes were shredded by the time the bus stopped, but luckily there were no bad injuries.

According to Inside Edition's investigation, these accidents started to occur more when bus technology advanced. Before, bus drivers had to manually open and close doors, but now there's only a switch, and some drivers do not pay attention to what happens at the door.

Additionally, the investigation showed how intense the pressure from the door was. It was strong enough to burst a soda can and crash anything put through it.

The investigators experimented with a bus full of children. With the supervision of two bus safety officials and the consent of eight-year-old Julia's parents, they inserted her backpack between the school bus' doors to see if she would have the strength to pull it out of the doors when they shut.

But she couldn't, and with the noise of the students on the bus, no one could hear Julia screaming for help. Therefore, this experiment called for a more thorough protocol for the safety of children.

How Did the Incident Affect Chelsea?

Although it was a relief that Chelsea had no severe injuries, the emotional impact of the experience left her with sleepless nights and a lot of anxiety.

Her parents revealed that she tosses and turns in her sleep and wakes up thinking her whole body had been scraped, but the part of her body that did get hurt was her feet.

Chelsea had been wearing a newly-bought pair of Fila sneakers, which protected her from severe burns. But by the time the bus stopped, the shoes were torn and unwearable.

Since Chelsea only had the shoes for three months, her mother, Abbassi, confessed that they didn't have enough money to get her a new pair after the accident.

​​Chelsea Received a Surprise Box

When Fox8's journalist, Michael Hennessey, broke the story, it went viral, and many people forwarded it to Fila. The sporting brand got the messages and contacted Hennessey wanting to send Chelsea a box of goodies. The journalist consensually gave out the six-year-old's details.

Ten days before Christmas, Chelsea received a personalized package from Fila. Inside were two pairs of shoes and a bunch of clothes. Chelsea's parents said she was over the moon when she received her gift; even more exciting was that the box had her name on it.

"She was ecstatic; we couldn't even get her to take the clothes off. She loved it; she loved it, she really did," Abbassi said. Chelsea's mother also expressed how she, Estrella, and John were grateful for the support their daughter received and thankful to Fila for the gifts.

Chelsea also wrote a note to Fila, thanking them for their surprise box and expressing how happy she was to have received it.

Here is another story about a courageous little girl who helped another child in need.

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