More details about a Stamford, CT elementary school's terrible class trip, which involved a student's father being arrested for allegedly molesting some of the female students, have emerged. A 10-year-old girl told the Daily News that Tomas Manzano "came up to [her and her friend] and sat down, and started touching my friend and then he started touching me... I cried so much. I knew I had to go tell someone right away."
Manzano was one of 40 chaperones watching over 97 fifth graders from Stillmeadow Elementary School. Principal Michael Sander tells the Stamford Advocate that he spoke with Manzano "about lemurs, coffee, the men's restroom, 'normal stuff' during the first stop, at Central Park Zoo." But then Manzano "had a significant change in behavior"—perhaps related to Manzano's water bottle that was actually filled vodka—which prompted two teachers to confront him around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Then Sanders "was alerted by a student, and entered the [double decker] bus's lower portion to find a group of upset girls." When the bus got to Mars 2112, the principal asked another female chaperone and a female teacher to question seven girls and the police were eventually called. Sanders said, "Bad things happen in good places. This is a good, successful school that is all about preparing kids for the 21st Century and keeping kids safe."
Manzano was charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse. The school's vice principal said that parents who volunteer to be class trip chaperones are checked against the sex offender registry and Manzano's name is not on it.
