New Jersey student with special needs dies after school bus ride, leading bus monitor to be charged with manslaughter

A 6-year-old girl with special needs died in New Jersey this week after her wheelchair harness constricted her breathing while she was riding a school bus, leading prosecutors to charge the bus monitor with manslaughter, officials said.

Authorities identified the child on Friday as Fajr Atiya Williams of Franklin Township, according to a statement from the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. Franklin Township is about 30 miles southwest of Newark, New Jersey.

Fajr was picked up from her home and was being transported to Claremont Elementary School in Franklin Park on Monday, the prosecutor's office said.

An investigation revealed that the bus monitor, 27-year-old Amanda Davila, secured the child in her wheelchair, prosecutors said.

During the bus ride, a series of bumps in the road caused Fajr to "slump in her wheelchair seat," which led the harness securing her to the chair to become tight around her neck, eventually blocking her airway, the prosecutor's office said.

Davila was seated toward the front of the bus, using her cellphone with headphones in both ears, during this time, according to the office. "The investigation revealed that this was in violation of policies and procedures," it said.

The Franklin Township Police Department responded to a local school around 9 a.m. after receiving a call about an unresponsive juvenile, according to prosecutors. Officers performed CPR on the child and she was transported to a hospital's intensive care unit, where she was pronounced dead, authorities said.