DENVER — A Castle Rock school bus driver abandoned 40 elementary schoolers Monday evening at a random intersection miles away from their homes, parents and school district officials said.

Parents told 9NEWS that the driver, who was a substitute for the route that day, forced their Clear Sky Elementary School students off the bus near a cemetery at East Wolfensberger Road and Auburn Drive.

In a video posted by 9NEWS, students said the trouble started before they even left the parking lot. One girl said the bus driver refused to move until they all stopped talking, which caused them to leave the school later than they normally would.

Multiple parents also said their children reported the driver threatening them and using vulgar language, according to Fox31.

“We felt like when he was driving and missing our stops like we were getting kidnapped,” Caitlyn Zavadil, a 10-year-old student at Clear Sky, told 9NEWS.

The bus driver eventually stopped around 5 p.m. about two miles from the school, on the corner of Wolfensberger and Auburn, and forced all 40 kids out of the bus, students said.

Many of the children were miles from home and had no way to contact their parents as temperatures dropped.

While some parents arrived quickly at the intersection to rescue their kids, other students were picked up by strangers, desperate for a ride home, parents told both television stations.

Douglas County School District officials addressed the incident in a Wednesday email to families on the bus route.

The driver was a “relief driver” on the route and is no longer employed at the school district, Chief Operations Officer Rich Cosgrove said in the email.

Cosgrove said the bus was on its third of 12 stops when it stopped “just short” of the usual location, “leading to some confusion.”

“At that time, the remaining 40 students on the bus all exited, with many getting off at the wrong bus stop,” Cosgrove said.

The driver should have immediately notified the district’s transportation dispatch but failed to do so, Cosgrove said.

The school district is working with the Castle Rock Police Department to investigate the incident. It’s not clear if criminal charges will be filed.

The Castle Rock Police Department declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

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