A school crossing guard was arrested twice in one day after police said he hit a mother and child with his stop sign stick and then got into an altercation at a courthouse.
Louis Chaves, 68, was taken into custody in Taunton, Massachusetts, Monday, according to WCVB.
Authorities told the outlet Chaves yelled at a mother in her car for not driving across the crosswalk fast enough outside Taunton High School. The woman said she was at an intersection when she sneezed and was trying to find a tissue.
“He was yelling at her while her child was in the vehicle. The crossing guard then put the stop sign stick through the passenger window and started swinging it all around the car, calling her names and told her that she needs to get out of there,” a prosecutor said during a court hearing.
“The defendant was swinging the stop sign stick in the vehicle and it struck the daughter in her arm.”
When the woman got out of the car to confront the man, he threw her on the ground, a prosecutor said.
“When the parent got out of the vehicle and confronted this defendant about the assault, that’s when the defendant started to attack her with a stop sign stick, eventually throwing her to the ground,” the prosecutor told the court, according to the outlet.
“(She) stated while she was on the ground, she was dragged and kicked repeatedly by the defendant. She did have multiple abrasions and lacerations on her arm.”
Chaves was subsequently charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was also charged with one count of assault and with a dangerous weapon, which prosecutors identified as “a shod foot.”
The woman sought treatment at a nearby hospital for cuts and abrasions.
The crossing guard was released following the arraignment and is due to appear back in court on August 8. He has been fired from his job as a school crossing guard.
“Taunton Public Schools is aware of a physical altercation this morning involving a crossing guard,” the district said in a written statement. “The crossing guard has been terminated, effective immediately, and is no longer an employee of Taunton Public Schools.”
The second alleged crime happened when Chaves left the courtroom. He tried to attack cameras as a woman asked him to stop and attempted to hold him back. News cameras caught him kicking a photographer and throwing a stick.
News groups caught the second attack on film as they were trying to get comments from Chaves after his court hearing.
He was subsequently arrested a second time for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon. His attorneys argued that a speech impediment and the cameras made him anxious, according to CBS News.
A judge ordered Chaves to undergo a mental health evaluation, and he left the courthouse without further incident.
