An Osceola County School District bus attendant has been arrested after reports say he inappropriately touching students getting off buses at school in two separate March encounters.
Brian Louis, 22, of Kissimmee has been arrested on misdemeanor battery charges, and was booked Wednesday in the Osceola County Jail on no bond. He was scheduled to make an initial appearance in front of a judge Thursday afternoon.
The School District also said Louis is no longer employed with the district — his LinkedIn page shows he’s been a bus monitor since August 2022 — after it was made aware of the allegation and at the onset of the investigation.
While the name of the school where this occurred is not mentioned or is redacted in the police report, it does reference an assistant principal at Neptune Elementary School. The children involved were 5-7 years old, per the arrest report.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Cloud Police Department conducted a joint investigation into the March 10 incident. Video surveillance from the bus was obtained and showed the incident. According to police, Louis was sitting in the same row of seats as a 5-year-old female victim on bus route 428. On the video, he could be seen touching the girl’s face, pinching her cheeks, putting his finger on her mouth, tickling her, hugging her, and placing his face on the side of her face and neck area and appears to be kissing her.
During a second incident on March 11, investigated by St. Cloud Police, Louis is reported to have picked up several victims “helping” girls off the bus at school. While he was holding them, he kissed them on their cheeks.
“During the video you can see Brian attempt to touch multiple other students who take evasive maneuvers to avoid him and/or stop his advance,” the arrest affidavit reads. “It can also be seen that Brian stops a different girl as she gets off the bus and hugs her.”
According to police, after the allegation surfaced of the March 11 statement, Louis gave a Transportation supervisor a written statement noting he always got out of the bus to help students leave it safely.
“With the boys, I let them off on their own and give them a fist bump,” the report said the statement read. “With girls, I lend them a hand to get off safely. With toddlers, I pick them up to drop them safely while making fart noises in their ear for fun.”
A statement from the Sheriff’s Office said, “The actions taken by Brian were beyond the normal scope of his duties and crossed the line into criminal activity.”
All parents were made aware the incident was being investigated by the School District, which noted Louis was reassigned off the bus immediately when the school district was made aware of the allegation and at the onset of the investigation.
Per court records, Louis has no arrest or court record in Osceola County outside of a traffic ticket.
