School Bus Video Shows Mother Directing Fight

By THOMAS W. KRAUSE The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2007

TAMPA - In a grainy black-and-white surveillance video, a woman walks onto a school bus and demands to see the girl who slapped her 9-year-old daughter.

A 10-year-old girl raised her hand.

Police say Shayla Muldrow, 26, looked at her daughter, told her to take off her jacket, then gave her an order.

"Go back there and handle your business," witnesses told police they heard Muldrow say.

Over the next several minutes of video, as the bus driver radios for help, hands and fists repeatedly fly. Muldrow, at first stands with one hand on her hip and a second hand points where the daughter can strike next.

At one point, Muldrow's other daughter joins the fray. Muldrow pulls her back.

Eventually, she and both daughters get off the bus. A melee among other children continues onboard.

The video became public record Tuesday. Muldrow's trial on two charges stemming from the incident is scheduled for May 21.

After the March 2 fight, Muldrow was charged with battery, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and trespassing on the bus. The battery charge was later dropped because Muldrow did not hit anyone. She could be incarcerated for up to a year on each of the other charges. If convicted and the judge orders the sentences to run back to back, she would do the time in state prison instead of the county jail.

Incarceration would not be new to Muldrow.

In 2004, she spent two months in jail after pleading no contest to a charge of criminal mischief with property damage. In 2005, she spent almost 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to charges of driving with a suspended license, altering a license plate and giving a false name to an officer.

The school bus incident appears to have followed an altercation between Muldrow's daughter and the victim a day or two earlier.

Bus driver Ronald E. Montgomery told police he stopped the bus March 2 near 25{+t}{+h} Street and 17{+t}{+h} Avenue. The bus was headed to Booker T. Washington Elementary School. Muldrow and her two daughters got onboard. She looked at Montgomery and asked him about a girl who may have slapped one of her daughters. Before Montgomery could answer, he told police, she turned her attention to the children on the bus.

Although Montgomery repeatedly told Muldrow to get off the bus, he told police, she would not leave. Montgomery called the dispatch center and asked for police help.

He watched as both of Muldrow's daughters threw fists. When they left the bus, he noticed they walked into a duplex on 17{+t}{+h} Street.

The 10-year-old victim told police that she and Muldrow's daughter had argued two days earlier and she "lightly" slapped the girl in the face. When Muldrow and her two daughters got on the bus, the victim told police, she admitted having hit the girl. Both of Muldrow's daughters began to hit her, according to police.

One daughter grabbed her hair and didn't let go until Muldrow began to leave the bus, police said.

Police and prosecutors have not identified the victim or Muldrow's daughters because they are minors.

Efforts to reach Muldrow by telephone and in person were unsuccessful.

Tribune researcher Catherine Hammer contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at

tkrause@tampatrib.com or (813)259-7698.