CHESAPEAKE, VA (WTKR/CNN) – A Virginia school division is investigating after video posted on Facebook shows several children climb over a stopped train, as the bus driver appears to wait for them to cross.
The incident, which has caused an uproar both online and in the Chesapeake, VA, community took place Tuesday afternoon, according to witness Patrick Priest.
Priest posted video showing both the students crossing and the school bus waiting at the crossing on Facebook.
“Trains been stopped so Chesapeake bus driver lets the kids off the bus and they climb on a train that could move at any moment and then she drives away like this is normal,” wrote Priest in the Facebook post.
Many Facebook users have called for the bus driver to be fired.
“This is UNSAFE! Unacceptable! Whom ever is driving needs to be fired. &&&& charged with child endangerment!” one person wrote.
Others have suggested the bus driver may not, as Priest believes, have been to blame.
“They have to open the door to hear if the trains are coming, and they could have just ran off the bus because the bus driver can’t grab the kids,” one Facebook user wrote.
Regardless, most agree the situation is dangerous.
“I know of a kid who got killed doing this, and there is a man who lives not far from this train track who did this as a child and his legs got amputated. Seriously dangerous,” one person commented.
Norfolk Southern Railway says the only safe place to cross is at a designated public crossing with either a crossbuck, flashing red lights or a gate.
Residents also say there are other ways to safely get to your destination.
"There's a back way. It takes you two minutes to go there – come out of here, go down the street and you're right there,” said local business owner James Parrish.
Chesapeake Public Schools says it is investigating the incident, and Norfolk Southern says they’ve reached out to help make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The railway company says if a train is blocking a crossing, there is a blue sign posted near the tracks with a number to call to report the location.
The company explains they have no control over what time of day a train stops, and there’s not a certain legal limit of how long a train can sit idle on the tracks.
Copyright 2018 WTKR, Patrick Priest/Facebook via CNN. All rights reserved. Raycom News Network contributed to this report.
