A school bus driver in Brusly, La turned himself in on Tuesday evening following a bizarre incident involving him and a 13-year-old middle school girl on his bus route.
As reported by WBRZ, Christopher Taplin was expected to drop off a 13-year-old middle school student at Brusly Middle School on Monday morning but failed to do so. While Taplin did unload the bus, the Brusly Police Department alleges that the 33-year-old driver let the other middle school students leave — all except for the 13-year-old girl. He then proceeded to the high school where he dropped off the remaining high school students until he was alone with the 13-year-old student. He then remained on the bus alone with the young girl for about 10 minutes.
Officers say that once Taplin was alone with the student, he began “pouring out his heart to her” and told her he loved her. Once done professing his love for the teen, he eventually dropped her off at her school and allowed her to leave.
On Wednesday, Brusly police also shared that Taplin left an unusual voicemail with the child’s family revealing that he loved the child and said he had been watching her since she started school.
Layla Green, another student of Brusly High School who isn’t much older than the victim, had some thoughts to share.
“Originally, I was scared for the little girl to be kidnapped like that…the last one on the bus,” she told WBRZ. “I would hate to be the last one on the bus, and you wouldn’t expect that and I expect more out of people, especially a grown man.”
Green also shared that she knows several people who were passengers of Taplin.
“A lot of my teammates and classmates rode his bus and they wouldn’t expect that from him. They were really shocked about it and it just goes to show you that you don’t know what a person’s intentions are you will never know” she said.
According to Jon LeFeaux, Brusly Chief of Police, the department is in communication with two other families who had a rapport with Taplin through other students on his bus route.
“This incident has left many people in shock as Taplin was very well-liked in the community,” announced the police department in a statement on Wednesday.
Taplin currently faces charges of false imprisonment, kidnapping, and stalking a juvenile. The police department also noted that Taplin did not directly work for the school system, but had operated a school bus for the West Baton Rouge School System.
His employment has been terminated from the bus service he worked for.
