By By Janet Little Cooper
An Escambia County Board of Education bus driver has been suspended and charged with a Class C Felony following an incident on Jan. 31 at Escambia County Middle School where she threatened to blow up the school and have a sniper waiting in the parking lot.
Ramona Taylor, 49, of Martinville Loop Road in Atmore came to meet with ECMS principal Zickeyous Byrd after he called her to inform her that her son had been involved in a fight.
"I contacted the mother and she came to the school very irate," Byrd said. " At that point she made a threat to blow up the school. Then she said that she had a son in the military and that she could get a sniper. She said that the sniper would be waiting in the school parking lot."
Byrd contacted the Atmore Police Department and escorted the agitated woman out of the school. The bus driver's son was the victim in the fight and was not punished in the incident. The student who started the fight was punished and sent to an alternative school.
The Atmore Police Department remained on campus through dismissal time to ensure that the bus driver did not come back.
According to Sheriff Grover Smith, Taylor has been charged with disorderly conduct and making a terrorist threat which classifies as a Class C Felony. If convicted, Taylor could face one to ten years in the state penitentiary. Taylor has been released on $5000 bond.