Broken Arrow School Bus Driver's Bond Lowered After First Court Date

A Tulsa county judge has lowered the bond for a former Broken Arrow School bus driver from $60,000 to $10,000.

Thomas Young was arrested last week for kidnapping and child abuse, accused of refusing to let unruly kids off his bus last Friday.

Bus video shows Young stopped the bus and told them he wouldn't move again until they behaved, and that was after the kids had been warned twice by a school administrator.

Related: Broken Arrow Public Schools Releases School Bus Camera Of Driver Incident

Young was in court Thursday for the first time. Young still hasn't been charged with any crimes. His attorney argued Young's bond should be lowered because this is not your typical kidnapping and child abuse case, and the attorney doesn't believe the charges will even stick if they're filed.

Young's attorney says Young was just trying to follow the protocol of his job while dealing with kids and parents who were acting out. He says Young should not be in jail when he was just trying to keep kids safe. Prosecutors didn't object to giving Young a lower bond and agreed, this is an unusual set of circumstances.

Young was arrested last Friday for refusing to let kids off the bus. The district says Young was fired because of safety concerns after he pulled the bus over on the side of the road and not putting on his flashing lights. Video from the bus shows Young yelling at the middle schoolers to be quiet. What the video didn't show is some kids jumping out of the back emergency exit while the bus was moving.

Police say parents showed up and were knocking on the side of the bus, and Young still refused to let anyone off. In the video, you can hear him telling the kids someone from the district was on the way. 

The district says in these types of situations, the driver shouldn’t have pulled over on a busy street but into a safe place instead.

Prosecutors say they were still reviewing reports from Broken Arrow Police and plan to decide on whether to file charges either Thursday night or Friday morning. Young is due back in court on Friday.