Crossing guard arrested twice on same day, accused of attacking woman, then TV reporters
A Massachusetts school crossing guard was taken into custody after two separate physical altercations on the same day last week.
The 68-year-old man was arrested following a disturbance at around 7:30 a.m. Monday, June 3, at Taunton High School involving him and occupants of a motor vehicle, the Taunton Police Chief Ed Walsh said in a written statement, according to the Taunton Daily Gazette, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The 35-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted by Chaves after she sneezed and stopped her vehicle in the middle of an intersection on the school grounds of the combined campus of Taunton High School and John F. Parker Middle School, per police reports viewed by the Gazette.
More news:Suspect in 2022 Sacramento mass shooting found dead in jail cell, attorney says
Woman claims crossing guard 'beat her' with the stop sign stick
Taunton police School Resource Officer Joshua DeOliveira, in his report, states that when he arrived on the scene shortly after 7:30 a.m., he found the woman sitting in her van “visibly shaking” and “hysterically crying.”
According to DeOliveira, she was yelling: “He (expletive) beat me with the stop sign stick!”
The woman reportedly stated she had stopped her van after sneezing because she needed a tissue to “blow her nose real quick.”
At that point, the crossing guard allegedly walked up to the front, passenger side window and yelled at her to keep driving. The woman, in turn, allegedly yelled back that he was out of line for yelling at her “in front of my kids.”
The crossing guard allegedly tried to strike the woman with his stop sign stick by sticking it through the open, passenger side window, while also allegedly using expletives and telling her she needed to get out of there.
Instead of making contact with the woman, the stick portion of the stop sign allegedly struck the arm of her daughter in the front passenger seat. The girl later reportedly told DeOliveira she wasn’t injured and managed to grab the sign and push it out of the window.
The altercation quickly accelerated when the woman said she exited her vehicle to confront the crossing guard, who she says then “attacked” her with the stop sign stick.
The woman told DeOliveira she ended up on the ground in the middle of the intersection and that the crossing guard “dragged” and “repeatedly” kicked her after she landed on the pavement.
DeOliveira, in his report, said the woman, who was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for examination, had “multiple abrasions and lacerations on her arms.”
Police said she called her boyfriend, who arrived on the scene, to drive the children home in the van.
Crossing guard was arrested twice in one day
Walsh said the crossing guard was arraigned in Taunton District Court June 3 on three counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. He was released on bail.
USA TODAY is not naming the man because severity of his charges were unclear.
“Taunton Public Schools is aware of a physical altercation this morning (June 3) involving a crossing guard,” the district said in an earlier statement to WCVB-TV.
"The crossing guard has been terminated, effective immediately, and is no longer an employee of Taunton Public Schools,” the district told WCVB.
The crossing guard was arrested a second time after local news footage showed him slapping, kicking and throwing a stick at TV news crews outside a courthouse after he was arraigned in connection with the first incident.
Police arrested the crossing guard at his home that night after they said they watched “various" news station videos at police headquarters showing him “lunging” at a Boston 25 News cameraman.
According to CBS Boston, he was charged with assault and battery as well as two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The judge ordered him to complete a mental health evaluation. His son-in-law, who was not named, argued that he felt defeated.
"I think the overwhelm and shock of actually being in court and finding out you lost your job, and the embarrassment you have to deal with in a town you've lived in your whole life," he said, per the outlet.