A New Jersey school bus aide charged in the death of a 6-year-old girl took the stand in her own defense on the same day the jury saw new video showing what occurred leading up to the child's death — and as prosecutors alleged the woman was on her phone the whole time.
The video played in court Thursday was so painful to watch for the victim's family, her father had to leave the courtroom while jurors watched little Fajr Williams struggling to breathe. The body harness strapping the girl with special needs into her wheelchair tightened around her neck and choked her on July 17, 2023, in Franklin Township.
That was the start of the third week of summer programs for Fajr, whose 14-year-old sister put her on the bus that morning. As the bus was on its route, a series of bumps in the road caused Fajr to slump in her wheelchair — causing the four-point harness which secured her to the chair to tighten around her neck, preventing her from breathing, prosecutors have said previously.
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The bus aide, Amanda Davila, could be seen on the video sitting in the seat in front of Fajr, with her head down and on her phone, headphones in, for nearly the entire 30-minute trip to school.
By the time the bus arrived, Fajr was unresponsive. Officers who responded to the 911 call performed CPR. She was rushed to a nearby hospital's intensive care unit, where she was pronounced dead.
"I made a mistake but you guys are trying to put me away for 10 to 20 years, on a mistake," Davila said during her testimony.
Davila was seen on the video securing the wheelchair to the floor of the bus, though she testified since day one of Fajr taking the bus, one of the four hooks had not been working, and that there was no shoulder strap for the wheelchair.
"The bus I was on didn't have it," she said of the strap.
She later changed her story, saying the strap didn't fit. When being questioned by her attorney, Davila said she was "never trained to properly put the wheelchair in and strap it."
But prosecutors produced evidence of monthly training sessions. And despite bus company policy, records showed Davila sent 34 text messages and had been on Instagram and Apple Music when she should have been watching the three special needs children on the bus from the back.
When asked why she wasn't seated in the back, Davila said she didn't know, she "wasn't thinking."
Davila’s lawyer called the case a horrible tragedy, and that his client shared responsibility with Fajr’s sister and mother, who he claimed should have made sure that the young girl was strapped in properly.
"She had one job. She didn’t do it and because she didn’t do it Fajr Williams is dead," said Assistant Somerset County Prosecutor Michael McLaughlin.
Davila is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated manslaughter. The case went to the jury late Thursday afternoon.
