(Surveillance video screenshot via AZFamily|Arizona News/YouTube; Mug shot from Mesa Police Department)
A mother on unsupervised probation for a domestic violence assault conviction was arrested after she was allegedly caught on surveillance video attacking a 64-year-old school bus driver she accused of trash-talking her daughter as students were getting off the bus at a stop in Arizona.
Hermenegilda Marquez, 27, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault on a school employee, police said in a news release.
The attack happened on April 11 after 2 p.m. at 625 West McKellips in Mesa, in front of 11 children on the bus, authorities said.
The attack, caught on school district video, shows the suspect getting on the bus and yelling and threatening the driver as children got off the bus, authorities said. Several other adults joined in, causing a further disturbance, police added.
A probable cause statement obtained by Law&Crime summarizes the allegations captured on the school district video. The attack started when the suspect got on the bus and yelled at the driver, court documents said.
She can be seen looking into the bus and asking for her child by name twice, according to the document.
She turns her attention back to the driver and continues yelling and cursing. The driver tells the suspect to get off the bus and picks up the bus radio handset. The suspect swings at the driver, appearing to grab the radio cord and yank on it, before briefly walking off the bus, rushing back on and assaulting the driver, court documents said.
She allegedly pushed the victim — still in her seat belt in the driver seat and said, “you talking s— to my daughter,” then slapped the victim repeatedly in the head and face before closing her hands into fists and continuing to pummel the victim with both hands, the document said.
The attack ended when a man, later identified as the suspect’s boyfriend, ran onto the bus, grabbed his girlfriend and pulled her off the bus.
As he pulled her from the bus, she grabbed the victim’s hair with both hands and nearly dragged her from the driver’s seat. The seat belt prevented her from falling out of the seat, court documents said.
The victim is seen on video calling for help on the bus radio when she begins to scream again and lurches toward the bottom of the screen. Police said her pacemaker had gone off and shocked her.
Officers arrived to find the bus driver and children still on the bus, but the assailant had left. The driver, upset and crying, had a red mark under her right eye, police said.
She told police she was a substitute and did not usually drive that route. When she stopped the bus, a parent approached the open door and began yelling at her, accusing her of saying things to her daughter, court documents said. The driver said she did not know the mother or the child and hadn’t said anything to anyone, court documents said. She said she was hit in the head, and her hair was pulled.
The school district gave a video from the bus, and school staff identified the suspect.
When she was taken into custody and questioned by detectives this week, she remained silent and requested her right to have a lawyer present, according to authorities. When the police showed her the video of the assault, the suspect displayed no emotion, court documents stated. The statement of probable cause mentioned that she was on unsupervised release for a previous conviction of domestic violence assault.