School bus aide who was scrolling on phone when student with disability died is sentenced

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (TCN) -- A bus monitor will spend time behind bars after a young girl in a wheelchair suffocated to death during a ride to school while the defendant had earbuds in.

According to court records, Amanda Davila was sentenced on March 7 to three years in prison. A Somerset County jury convicted the defendant Jan. 13 of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. She was found not guilty of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and the lesser included charge of second-degree manslaughter. Davila initially faced up to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison.

On July 17, 2023, while working as a bus aide for Montauk Transportation for a route to the Claremont School, Davila was responsible for the safety of 6-year-old Fajr Williams. Williams had a disability and used a wheelchair.

The victim’s older sister reportedly properly strapped Williams into her wheelchair before she left. Surveillance footage from inside the bus revealed that Davila "failed to properly anchor the victim’s wheelchair to the floor of the bus and failed to use the shoulder and lap belt."

While on the bus, prosecutors said Williams "slid down in her wheelchair and was strangled to death by her wheelchair harness." During the incident, the defendant was on her cellphone with her earbuds in, scrolling through Instagram and listening to music, and she had sent or received over 30 text messages instead of monitoring the victim.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Davila had undergone six years of safety trainings enforcing a "no cellphone and no earbuds policy." Davila had reportedly been taught to check on students often, to sit across from passengers seated in wheelchairs, and to use a shoulder and lap belt with students.

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