FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Neighbors have come to the defense of the 46-year-old woman who was arrested for hitting children at a school bus stop.
Neighbors spoke out Thursday to say Linda Josue was actually the victim in this case and not the children.
Josue was accused of attacking several students at a Fort Lauderdale bus stop, Tuesday.
“She kicked me in my left eye as soon as I fell down,” said Ta’javien Williams who said he was attacked.
Josue lives near the bus stop on Southwest 19th Avenue and Fourth Street.
The students said they were playing with a football at the bus stop when the ball accidentally hit Josue.
That’s when they said Josue snapped and attacked the group of students.
“That’s when she got mad and started hitting us,” said Carolina Gomez Moore. “She scratched me on my neck.”
“She had punched me in the back of my head,” said another boy as he pointed to his head.
The events led to Josue’s arrest and landed her in front of a judge.
“You have two counts of abuse of a child without great bodily harm,” said Judge Kim Theresa Mollica.
Other neighbors that live near the bus stop said there are two sides to the story.
“It’s not fair to that lady. She don’t bother anybody,” said Barbara Williams, a neighbor.
Neighbors said Josue is mentally ill, and she just sits outside on a chair near her apartment.
“I drive by every single day, and I see this lady minding her own business,” said Williams. “These children catching the school bus, they are taunting this lady.”
Williams said the children tossed the football at Josue on purpose, and two days after the attack they were at it again.
“If they accidentally did it the other day, why would they be over there by her apartment, where she’s paying rent, tossing that ball again?” said Williams. “They know that this lady has problems. These kids catch this bus every single day, so you have some rough cuts in that bunch.”
Another neighbor said she had her own experience with the same group of students.
“This lady is a very quiet lady. She’s always sitting there to herself, but I don’t know what happened, what she did to the kids,” said Luby Hart, a neighbor. “I don’t know, but I know they were throwing rocks at me too.”
Hart said the students have thrown rocks at her car and her home, and that it is time to move the bus stop.
“I feel like parents need to talk to them because you can’t come from school, you seeing people, and you just start throwing rocks and balls on people,” said Hart. “That’s not right.”
The Broward County School Board is looking into possible solutions following this incident.
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