Cops: Iowa bus driver loses temper, assaults student

JOHNSTON, Iowa — A school bus driver has been arrested on charges of assaulting a special-needs student on his bus, authorities said.

The incident happened Thursday afternoon in front of other children, who posted a video of the assault on social media. Robert Alan Scarbrough, 61, of West Des Moines, Iowa, stopped the bus after a 15-year-old special needs student failed to follow instructions about assigned seats, according to a Johnston police investigation.

Scarbrough had been working for the Johnston Community School District for fewer than three months and had been through training, district spokeswoman Laura Sprague said Friday.

When the student uttered an inflammatory comment at Scarbrough, the bus driver pulled the student from his seat, struggled with him, hit the student in the head and pushed him down onto the bus floor, police said. In the video, several children were screaming at the driver, who yelled profanity.

After pushing down the student, Scarbrough returned to the driver's seat and drove to the next stop, where several students ran off of the bus at about 12:15 p.m. in Grimes, Iowa. They told a Polk County sheriff's deputy that their bus driver had assaulted the student.

Johnston Police were then called to the scene.

The student, whose name was not released, received medical attention in an ambulance on scene but did not need to be transported to a hospital for medical attention, according the school district.

The student was with his parents when he left the scene, police said.

"His background check was clear," Sprague said. "He went through the same positive behavioral intervention support training that all drivers do — PBIS for short. It's a nationwide behavioral methodology that gives constructive ways to deal with inappropriate behavior."

She said no previous complaints had been lodged against Scarbrough, who has been placed on leave and is charged with assault causing bodily injury and child endangerment, both aggravated misdemeanors that each carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

A judge Friday ordered a lawyer be appointed to represent Scarbrough, but that lawyer has not yet been named. Scarbrough could not be reached for comment at the Polk County Jail, where he was being held on $3,000 bond; his arraignment is set for Dec. 2.

Elvedina Velagic, 14, a student who said she was on the bus during the incident, said Scarbrough has yelled his bus passengers before though she does not know any students who have reported it.

"He yells at us all the time," she said. "We were kind of used to the yelling."

Scarbrough's actions Thursday happened after the special needs student almost missed the bus then didn't follow Scarbrough's directions on where to sit, Elvedina said. The student then told the bus driver to "shut up."

The student, who has a mental disability. is "someone who is always very nice to everyone," she said.

District officials offered counseling to the students on the bus Friday.

The suburban Des Moines school district operates a fleet of 75 buses and employs about 60 drivers. Before Thursday's incident, the school system had been considering privatizing its bus service through a third-party contractor to save money.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Charly Haley on Twitter: @charlyhaley