Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 41
Accused Driver Trying to Clear His Name • Fitness Enthusiasts Flock to The CORE • Council to Consider Raising Our Utility Bills • Look What’s Going Down in Lewisville
As I watched Coppell High School’s marching band and Lariettes participate in Saturday’s holiday parade, I thought, “If just a few plays had gone the Cowboys’ way a week earlier, these kids would be at a football game right now.” Well, the parade might have been more fun than that theoretical matchup with Southlake Carroll. The Byron Nelson Bobcats, the team that eliminated Coppell on Nov. 25, got scorched by the Dragons last night, 56-7. Ouch. Carroll advances to face DeSoto in the state semifinals.
Accused Driver Trying to Clear His Name
When a child accused bus driver Paul Russo of sexual assault last spring, Coppell ISD sent a message to all district parents about his arrest and termination. Russo would like to see a follow-up message go out, but he doesn’t have his hopes up.
In October, the Coppell Chronicle broke the news that the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office had rejected the case against Russo, for reasons that have not been explained. Russo didn’t want to speak on the record at that time, but he and I recently met at a Coppell coffee shop so he could provide his side of the story.
Russo had driven buses for Durham School Services in Coppell ISD since July of 2022, but he worked for Durham in Lewisville ISD from 2005 until 2013. In the interim, he also drove buses for Frisco ISD’s in-house transportation department. Until this year, he said, he had never been accused of inappropriate conduct.
The child who made the accusation was on Russo’s bus only twice, he said, and nobody else was on the bus for either of those 20-minute rides. Although the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees approved installing cameras on all district buses in July, no such recording equipment was in place for those two April rides. Russo said the only time he came close to touching the kid was when he adjusted a twisted backpack strap, and he told the child in advance that he was going to do so.
A Durham supervisor informed Russo of the accusation on Friday, May 19. He turned himself in at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on Monday, May 22. He spent 16 hours in that Dallas County jail before being released on bail. The only food he was provided were a pair of bologna sandwiches. All he had to drink was water from a trickling fountain.
One of the conditions of his release was that he could not be around weapons, so he paid to put his guns in storage. The harder condition to comply with was avoiding contact with minors. That meant he stopped patronizing restaurants — both dine-in and drive-thru — because they so often have teenage employees. He shopped for groceries after midnight, but during one late-night trip to a WinCo Foods, he had to steer clear of a child he could hear on another aisle. Russo said he also stopped going to church to avoid minors, and he declined to attend a cousin’s funeral for the same reason.
Driving for Durham was not Russo’s sole source of income. When we met, he was wearing a bracelet bearing the name of his Grapevine-based golf business, I Putt Better, as well as a Grapevine Chamber of Commerce polo shirt. But his arrest affected that aspect of his life as well. If you have to avoid minors, golf courses and pro shops are also off limits.
Life continued this way until October, when I sent Russo a letter, asking him to comment on his case’s rejection. My letter broke that news to Russo. He called his lawyer, who then called the district attorney’s office to confirm. The DA’s office issued a brief letter of their own on Oct. 20.
Russo has spent more than $30,000 on bail and attorney fees since May. Meanwhile, he has missed out on at least $16,000 worth of salary from Durham. He and his wife have borrowed money from his parents and hers to make ends meet; other friends and relatives have given them money and gift cards. He said only two people have shunned him since his arrest. The rest of his friends, family members, and acquaintances believe he is innocent.
Russo doesn’t think a lawsuit is in the cards. He can’t sue Durham because Texas is an “employment at-will” state, which means an employer can fire an employee for any lawful reason. He can’t sue Coppell ISD because the school district has sovereign immunity. And he doesn’t see the point of suing his accuser’s family, because he doubts they have as much money as he’s lost.
His focus now is on exoneration. He wants his name cleared, hence his willingness to participate in this article. As mentioned above, he’d also like to see Coppell ISD publish an update on his status.
Russo’s wife is also a Durham bus driver, and she still works in Coppell ISD. She noted that a quote from the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis was projected on the screens during the district’s convocation ceremony in August: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.”
Fitness Enthusiasts Flock to The CORE
The weight machines at The CORE are about to be replaced, and here’s one of the reasons why: A whole lot of sweaty muscles have been pumping that iron.