ST. LOUIS – The NAACP is speaking out about a noose that was found after a mechanic allegedly spoke up about faulty brakes on a school bus.
“We do not want to see schoolchildren in defective buses,” Adolphus Pruitt, St. Louis NAACP president, said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Pruitt is responding to mechanic Amin Mitchell, who reportedly found a noose near his workspace after telling his supervisor he found a cracked brake caliper, which could possibly put drivers and students in a dangerous situation.
“He found a noose on the job site and felt it was a threat to him, for his warning that school buses with children on them was safely maintained and repaired,” Pruitt said.
At Pruitt’s side is Jerry Ellis, a former airline mechanic of 20 years who came out of retirement to help keep the buses running.
Ellis alleges that the company’s work conditions put lives at risk.
“You’re constantly harassed, you’re constantly being told to do something that is not safe,” he said. “When they brought up the noose situation… they questioned me on terms of, ‘Do we use rope in the shop?’ Come on, guys. The shop is full of motor oil. You don’t have a perfectly white rope laying on the floor in the shop full of motor oil. That don’t make any sense.”
The group says they’re not calling for buses to be pulled off the street or for parents to panic, but rather asking for better review and transparency of bus inspections and repair records of buses.
