two officers immediately enter their
squad car and take off sirens blaring
the dispatcher provides a description
over the radio as the officers make a
mad dash for the hospital
the majority of body camera footage and
the following video has never been seen
before and information included in the
video was obtained through actual police
reports
when a bus driver transporting
approximately 40 middle school students
refuses the director's radio transmitted
orders to pull over
complete chaos ensues
all responding parties attempt to make
sense of the confusing situation
in just a few seconds you'll meet the
man behind the mayhem you'll be
absolutely flabbergasted as to how he
was able to operate any type of
machinery let alone a school bus packed
full of children
what is wrong with you guys it's just
asking your name what's your name mark
mcneil mark mcneil yes okay
i don't lie to anybody
let's rewind a bit
everything started at approximately 2 pm
on february 9 2022
when we pick up momentarily you'll see
that ems has just responded to a scene
where a man is complaining that he's
having difficulty breathing and is
experiencing pain in his legs upon
arrival it's discovered that just
moments earlier he was driving a school
bus filled with children from buddy
taylor middle school located in palm
coast florida
a first responder is speaking with
keonda gilmore safety and training
coordinator in an attempt to figure out
this bizarre scenario that is unfolding
right before their eyes i'm getting part
of it right now
huh
but i do think there might be some stuff
going on yeah
he was doing his route
remember this particular bus service
employee we'll hear from her shortly
no question about that most definitely a
public affairs nightmare
more importantly however a parent's
nightmare
so he definitely said i've had a couple
of beers so what yeah hold that again
there's so much going on just for you
what is his
medical reason for going right now
he just wants to meet his wife at the
hospital correct
he does he didn't want to go but he said
his wife was on the phone said i'll meet
you there he's like okay
mark is now being loaded into an
ambulance enroute to the local hospital
for further examination
one of his colleagues has been tasked
with completing the remainder of the bus
route in order to get the terrified
students who are still on the bus safely
home
members of local law enforcement remain
at the scene as they continue efforts to
get to the bottom of everything in this
peculiar investigation
according to kianda she asked that he
pull over to a safe location when he got
to the school
and we radioed him to pull that bus over
at a safe location
he did he was told to get one bus but he
did not get that work he done because a
totally opposite book so that was when
we noticed something was wrong because
he was just
was this director
yes
so then
when he didn't take that but that's when
she said oh i
kind of smell alcohol
and she didn't say that before or
anything though this allegation that
market apparently smelled of alcohol
wasn't made official until after he had
already departed to complete his
afternoon route
however the witness would later explain
what made her unsure of the possibility
as she's completing a statement to
assist with the investigation
most likely you'll recognize her
thank you ma'am
thank you i know of a lot but
this is really going to help the case so
well this is probably going to yeah
my job is on the line
i smelled it on him but i wasn't sure
what it was because i had cove
six months ago and i still don't have my
sense of smell bad
i smell something sweet
at least you said something you know
some people just brushed off the
brushing of the rug and would have been
like you know what
i should have
i should have
but
shame on all of us
i'm not saying any news but
same on me
let's return to kianda as she continues
to relay the details of the bus chase to
a responding officer
in just a few seconds we'll also meet
transportation director dontarius rowles
as you can imagine he's doing his best
to tread carefully as he navigates this
unusual situation
little do they know things are about to
go from strange to downright crazy does
he have any history of like dui
you know substance abuse or anything
hey hey how are you yeah right now all
right so
we got a little bit of a here yeah all
right so are you what are you up to
speed on right now
um i've been talking about this good
morning so i'm pretty first we came out
here um to you guys immediately once we
was tipped off because that's not a
practice of ours he should have never
left right no and listen we're not here
to accuse anyone we're not saying
anything like that we're just trying to
figure out the timeline he's a mandatory
reporter the reason that we notified you
i mean um he um so if he has any uh
under input because the old cdf we need
to know that yeah so he admitted to the
fire department that he had two leaders
okay so he openly so um i don't know how
this works but we need to do a blood
draw because this isn't considered a dui
or something like that there's a hope
that's what we we have a whole process
for that we're so alone you saw him
driving right right
and we have a video too i don't know if
that helps oh yeah if we can see
anything like if he has any uh
impairment queues
just a moment later the officer behind
the camera cuts the discussion short
she and her partner dispatched to the
hospital where as you just heard
mark has made a run for it
as the officers exit their vehicle
mark's antics for lack of a better word
continue
what should i do
what can i do what should i do sir
we'll explain everything in just a
second okay okay okay okay oh my god
i didn't do anything
can i can i go home one second
the female officer returns to the squad
car and obtains a pair of exam gloves
did i do something wrong
i'm sorry did i do something wrong so he
jumped out of a yeah yep it took off
from the ambulance i'm sorry
hey wait you're pushing me you're
pushing me hard okay yeah you're pushing
me hard i'm barely touching i don't like
that yeah i don't like that you're
pushing me hard
yes you are you're pushing me hard
what did i do
what did i do
what did i do sir
honestly i was watching this out of your
office why don't you jump out of the
direction
handle it
i drive the school bus i understand that
okay
i didn't jump back on the school bus
okay
i just jumped out because i was scared
okay
i love i'm not gonna lie to any of you i
didn't see you i'm not gonna know why
you know you've seen me you've seen me
what's the matter with you what did i do
i didn't do anything wrong okay okay i
need to do anything wrong sir i mean sir
sir you
you can't believe that
okay we're gonna explain to you what's
going on okay i didn't do anything wrong
okay i didn't do anything wrong
i love my wife my wife as host he's
worried about me i have
five kids where's your idea we have
children where's your idea okay where's
your idea
excuse me where is your identification
then your wallet where's your wallet
it's
what is wrong with you guys it's just
asking your name what's your name mark
mcneill mark mcneil yes
i don't lie to anybody okay relax
here's the situation
okay you got anything
stand i'm gonna put it
i'm gonna
[Music]
yes i was hit by a school bus
hey am i walking or driving
i was driving a school bus and i was hit
by a bus okay and then you're okay at
the hospital and then he jumped out no
no i didn't go to a hospital no no no no
i didn't go to a hospital i i
holy crap oh you're in the hospital sir
okay we just wanna make sure you're okay
i'm fine
i'm fine
they're not arrested listen to me
sir
you are not
under arrest
you are being detained at this time
children are not fine
okay i didn't do anything wrong i didn't
do nothing wrong
you said you were driving a bus right
yes all right i drive a school bus for
the last five years okay
you're being detained right now so we
can figure out what happened we're not
doing anything right now besides trying
to get information okay
you were there
how how you were there i saw you there
yesterday i saw you there i didn't work
yesterday yeah yeah whatever i saw you
there yesterday what's your birthday man
huh what's your birthday
yeah
yeah why are you guys holding me
wait what
because he's a bus driver right so
yeah
uh-huh i don't know what's going on but
that's one of the vouchers
i heard that much if he doesn't have id
on him or whatever his name's mark he
works
transportation department at the high
school okay i appreciate it
what's wrong with you guys you are
arresting me
for what
for what
yeah
oh what mark do you have a middle name
michael michael
yeah
i want my wife i want you to call my
wife
what did he do
i didn't do anything
what do you got all over your back sir
huh what do you have all over your back
my back
this is my
my my what i wet when i drive a bus
no but it looks like you either got puke
or
whatever sir okay
holy
[Music]
yeah so we can figure out what happened
what happened
we're waiting for you to tell us i told
you already call my wife
call my wife your wife wasn't there so
how would she know my wife knows okay
your wife knows you were driving a
school bus right i drive a school bus
for the past five years okay okay all
right so what happened today on the
school day
are you guys really keeping me here
we're just talking about how you got
from
the ambulance
because i wasn't hurt
i was not hurt at all all i cared was
when my kids were not hurt that's it
that's it that's why
all i cared was my kids were not hurt
and you know what and all the parents
showed up at the bus stop and said the
same thing hey you know what hey and i
had i had two students two students and
two parents that told me that they were
sick of me
okay so i'm gonna go to jail now we're
just trying to figure out why i'm gonna
go to jail
i'm a good guy man i don't all i care
about is my children on the bus
that's all i care about
you know that's all i care about is my
kids on the bus
you know
we're trying to figure out what happened
you say you care about the kids on the
bus some of the kids got home and were
scared
yes of course they were scared
of course they were why
because they were scared why would you
be on school bus why were the kids
listen
you know do you know what you're talking
about man no that's why i'm trying to
ask you yes yes yes
all i was afraid of was against me
i'll be screwed up and be afraid of my
bus
you know what man
you know what arrest me if you want to
just arrest me
okay
just a resume just arrest me just rescue
go ahead i don't care
okay i'm deputy parker of the fire
county sheriff's office okay i know sir
okay i know who you are you can't okay i
know who you are okay with that being
said
okay
i want you to tell i want to tell you
what i'm observing okay
when i talked to you earlier and ask you
a couple questions
i smell an odor of an alcohol beverage
not at all okay not at all okay with
that being said not at all i understand
with that being said are you willing to
do field sobriety exercises i already
did one this morning did it build friday
yeah because i had an accident yesterday
yes i had an accident yesterday a guy
hit me okay a guy hit me okay okay
sir sir sorry sorry i'm going to do
field sobriety exercises
no no okay you have that right okay so
you're going to arrest me okay so you're
going to arrest me sir i need you to
listen to me
it's understandable that mark wouldn't
have an interest in completing a field
sobriety test given his current
condition
if you found mark's behavior to be
entertaining so far wait until you view
his performance as he's placed into the
back of deputy parker's vehicle
do you really think that that would
drive the punches
huh do you really think that
would do that
yeah
what the hell what the hell are you look
like
yeah oh my goodness sir please stop
moving
i'm not moving yes you are now
look at you look at you you would think
that louis do that face that way do it
do that hey stop don't hit me stop don't
hit me stop don't hit me you're not
getting my face again
you're not hitting me looking he's
hitting me
he's hitting me yeah yeah do not get
yeah yeah yeah yeah right yeah right
have a seat
have a seat
sit down
you forced me in there sit down force me
it's not going to crush me force me
now for the drive to the flagler county
inmate center you'll most definitely
feel for deputy parker during the
commute
because he's definitely passive
resisting i need to call my wife
yep do you need anything for me
all right i can't call my wife
when it's gonna happen in four hours it
seems mark urgently needs to contact his
wife for whatever reason but it'll be a
bit before he's given the opportunity to
do so
in the meantime he continues to rack up
one charge after another including
driving under the influence felony child
neglect and resisting arrest
non-violently
hiccups are killing me here okay all
right can i take them off please i'll
get them off here can i take the
handcuffs off when i get please when i
get to the point
they're hurting me
so i failed to take a a avalanche test
yeah that's nice
you're arresting me because i failed to
take
an ambulance test right an ambulance
yeah yeah you said i failed to go to an
ambulance right no yeah yeah that's what
you said
that's what you said
no sir it's not that's all you said
the deputy is just as confused as we are
as to what an ambulance test is
all of a sudden mark has gone quiet
mr maynell are you still living in
ormond sir
mr mcniel
are you still living in ormond sir
[Music]
okay
and how long have you been a school bus
driver
huh
how long have you been the school bus
driver sir
okay
i'm trying to help you out
do you want me to take those handcuffs
off you want to get to the jail
mr mcneil
mr mcneil
you don't have to say anything if you
don't want to
where are they hurting at sir
where the handcuffs hurting that chat
apparently the handcuffs aren't hurting
mark too badly at this point
then seemingly out of nowhere mark's
voice can be heard once again
mark where are your handcuffs hurting
you at okay where are your handcuffs
hurting you at you
it does matter it does matter
[Music]
i do care
okay are you are you still yeah okay you
don't care
i do
the pair finally approached their
destination the flagler county inmate
facility
[Music]
mark how long you've been a bus driver
how long have you been a bus driver mark
oh oh god
oh god
oh god oh god
okay okay
hi
hey hey
excuse me hey
what are you doing man
oh
i'm so tired
sorry your medical issue i'm sorry yeah
[Music]
all right all right all right sir
okay sir let me know if you need
anything yes no i don't need no
assistance
oh
i can't get the muffin
i can't get him off me sir there's no
doubt that mark is quite an entertaining
character but the fact remains that he
endangered dozens of middle school
children as well as countless others
that afternoon when he made the decision
to climb behind the wheel of a school
bus
after mark arrived at the inmate
facility the deputy asked them if he'd
be willing to submit to a breath sample
and mark agreed to do so
at 4 10 p.m the deputy collected two
separate breath samples the results were
absolutely shocking
though it was quite obvious that mark
was in fact under the influence his
blood alcohol levels were sky high
while he allegedly admitted to a first
responder that he'd had a couple beers
the idea was thrown out the window when
two simultaneous blood alcohol readings
came in at .31 and .32
approximately four times the legal limit
for a florida driver
levels this high are so dangerous they
can result in alcohol poisoning or even
loss of consciousness
mark was able to post bail and was
released approximately four months after
the incident on june 13th of 2022 he
appeared in court for a plea hearing
of course in typical marked fashion so
as not to disappoint he was
well have a look for yourself
i'm sorry i think you're impaired no i'm
not
i'm not impaired at all despite his
claims we've grown to know mark's
behavior well enough to recognize that
he is not being truthful
let's go ahead and get you tested make
sure that i'm not getting tested
okay
then what i'm going to do sir is i'm
going to go ahead and take you into
custody right now because i think you
are impaired i'm not impaired at all the
denials continue but as you'll see
they're short-lived that you know you
know what i am impaired
okay
i'm just sorry for what i did and
i'm terribly
with a horrible mistake
what i did i'm sorry i'm sorry one month
later on july 11th mark was sentenced to
18 months in prison
needless to say he is no longer employed
by flagler county school district