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Holly Springs police will not file charges following an incident in which parents chased down and blocked a Wake County school bus to get their children off after the driver had missed some stops.
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On Tuesday, some parents from Middle Creek Elementary say they became concerned that the driver had not dropped off their children so they pursued the bus and used their vehicles to block it from moving. Students then opened the emergency exit and some jumped out
“After a thorough review of all the available evidence, no charges will be filed against anyone involved in this event,” police said in a statement Friday. “HSPD’s review determined that a confluence of events and a lack of clear information and direction ultimately led several guardians of the students to reasonably be concerned for the safety of their children after the bus transporting them bypassed several stops.
“After following the bus over a period of time, two vehicles partially stopped in front of the bus. At no time did an adult try to forcibly enter, tamper with or board the bus.”
Two of the parents who confronted the bus said they reacted because they felt their children were in danger.
“Myself and all the other parents did what any parent would do watching their children scream for help while a man drove away, refusing to let them out,” Middle Creek parent Rebecca Wallace said in a statement to The News & Observer. “We stopped the bus, called the police, and got our children out of there from a situation that we wholeheartedly believed was unsafe.”
The Wake County school system says it’s reviewing the incident and has made counselors available to students.
“In speaking with many of you, I understand how troubling this was and have been working to gather additional information,” Sarah Stephens, the principal of Middle Creek, said in a letter sent to families on Thursday. “Our transportation department has been reviewing the matter, including speaking with the driver involved.
“While I’m limited in what I can share, our protocol is that when a driver experiences uncertainty about a route, they pull in a safe place and contact a supervisor.”
In a previous message sent Tuesday, Stephens told parents that the bus was driven by a substitute driver “who experienced difficulty navigating the route.” Stephens said the driver had “safely pulled the bus over to the side of the road while working to confirm the route before continuing.”
But Wallace and Angelika Perry, a Middle Creek parent who drove her car in front of the bus to block it from moving, disputed the school’s description.
In an email Wednesday to Stephens, Perry said she had been waiting to pick up her two grandchildren when the bus skipped the stop. Perry said she and other parents followed the bus in their vehicles to find out why their children hadn’t been dropped off.
Wallace says the driver missed four stops and accused him of driving erratically to try to get away from the parents following him.
“He finally pulled into the top of our neighborhood, where parents surrounded him begging for their children,” Wallace said. “He continued belligerently shouting that this was not a stop.”
By this point, Perry said, the students, including her grandchildren, were in great distress.
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“Several children were leaning out of the open bus windows, crying, screaming, and pleading to be let off the bus,” Perry said. “The level of distress among both the children and the waiting parents continued to escalate. The bus then began moving through the neighborhood again and continued around the roundabout while the children remained on board.”
It was at this point that Perry said she felt she needed to stop the bus from leaving the neighborhood.
“Given the visible distress of the children and the repeated unsuccessful attempts by several parents to communicate with the driver, I positioned my vehicle in front of the bus in an effort to prevent it from leaving until we understood what was happening,” Perry said. “When it appeared, the bus was still attempting to move forward; another parent stepped in front of the bus.”
Wallace said the children on the bus were in fear, with some thinking they were being kidnapped by the bus driver.
“As parents surrounded the bus screaming for their children, he still kept shouting that this was not a bus stop and he was not letting the kids off,” Wallace said. “Children were sobbing, pleading to be let off the bus, crying for their moms or dads. Finally, one brave student opened the emergency door and the children evacuated out the back of the bus.”
Wake County school transportation and Holly Springs police were called to the scene.
“Those involved called police for assistance in resolving the matter at the scene,” police said in the Friday statement. “Police arrived and interviewed the parties involved and continued to coordinate the investigation with WCPSS throughout the week to reach their determination.”
Wallace and Perry say the parents were in the right for stopping the driver, who remains driving for the district.
“He (the driver) continued shouting at parents that this was not a stop, and when police arrived he had the audacity to say that the parents were in the wrong, saying we illegally blocked the bus,” Wallace said.
Perry asked that her statement be included in the district’s review of the incident. She said better communication is needed with parents.
“I recognize that positioning my vehicle in front of the bus was an extraordinary action,” Perry said. “However, my sole concern throughout this incident was the safety and well-being of the children. At no point during the incident did the driver communicate that he was unfamiliar with the route, was attempting to verify directions, or that the children were safe and would simply be delayed.
“Had there been clear communication, I believe much of the confusion and distress experienced by both the children and the parents could have been avoided.”
Deborah Bridger, a parent whose child was on the bus, has criticized the actions of both the driver and the parents who stopped the bus. Her Facebook post about the incident has gone viral.
“This became mass hysteria, a bus full of elementary kids losing it because the adults were not handling this in an appropriate way,” Bridger said in her Facebook post. “Many of us got there in the aftermath of those choices to pick up terrified children.”
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This story was originally published August 7, 2026 at 11:22 AM.