Kasandra Rae Schumaker

Witness Statement

I, Kasandra Schumaker, am willing to write a witness statement. Around 2:40pm on Bus 84 heading towards 52^nd street on Kalamazoo Avenue, the back of bus 84 was full of people who were standing and cheering on a fight. I was sitting at the front of the bus with my friend Laura Thompson, and when I looked back there I only saw 1 kid being held back, and I think I remember his name was Rich. I held him back once before for almost fighting the other week. We turned into Gentian Street and they stopped fighting. We drove around and then went back onto Kalamazoo. I was grumbling about how irritated I was about the ‘immature kids on the bus who don’t know how to shut up’ and the whole bus looked at me and started calling me a ‘little hoe who’s going to get beat.’ I ignored the threats. After dropping off a number of kids near St. Mary Magdalene Church, there was an uproar from the back. I looked back to see Gerald (I’m guessing that was his name, from what other witnesses had said) beating on somebody, who I think his name is Gabe or Abe. Gerald started punching (G)abe over and over in the head and (G)abe just covered his head with his arms and after Mrs. Debbie, the Bus Driver had stopped the bus, (G)abe said he didn’t want to fight at all. Mrs. Debbie shut the bus down at the corner of Christie and 52^nd right near Pine Hill Cemetery. Gerald didn’t want Mrs. Debbie to see his ID so he refused. He ordered her to open the doors otherwise he’d “beat her down too.” He gave her 4 seconds to open the doors, and when she demanded he sat down as we waited for Security to come, he pried open the bus doors and took off running down Christie. At this time it was well around 3:00pm. Everyone was laughing and I tried to call my mom to have her pick me up but my cell phone died. A few guys sitting right next to me said, “Dude, he lives like right there in that house. He’s just going to go home.” When Mrs. Debbie asked who saw it, Laura and I raised our hands and showed her our ID’s. No one would confess to where he lived, so I stood and told her where and everyone started complaining about me telling on him. After a few minutes of listening to threats on the bus, the cops and EK security guards arrived and my neighbor Annette took Laura and me home.