A Mesa, Arizona mother was charged with aggravated assault after video showed her hit a school bus driver multiple times while accusing her of speaking badly about her daughter.
The Mesa Police Department said 27-year-old Hermenegilda Marquez was arrested on April 17 and faces a single count of felony aggravated assault on a school employee.
According to police, officers responded to W. McKellips Road at about 2 p.m. on April 11 after receiving reports that a Mesa Public Schools bus driver had been assaulted.
When officers arrived, they spoke with the victim, who appeared to be suffering from minor injuries.
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In a video released by police, Marquez is allegedly seen entering the bus and yelling at the driver before turning her head toward the back of the bus and calling for her child by name.
Marquez then turns her attention back toward the driver and continues cursing and yelling at the bus driver, according to police.
The bus driver told Marquez, who she claimed to have never spoken to before, to get off the bus before picking up the handset on the bus radio.
Marquez then allegedly appears to swing at the victim, then grabs the radio cord and yanks it while telling the bus driver to “do something now” and get off the bus.
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Multiple parents were at the bus stop when Marquez boarded the bus. Some of the parents complained to the bus driver about not stopping at the right location, while Marquez had another complaint.
“Were you talking s- – t about my daughter?,” Marquez is allegedly heard asking the bus driver before violently smacking her multiple times.
A man police identified as Marquez’s boyfriend, intervened and pulled Marquez off the bus.
But as she was being removed from the vehicle, she grabbed the bus driver’s hair with both hands and almost pulled the driver out of her seat, police said.
At the time of the assault, police said, there were 11 children still onboard the bus.
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Marquez left the scene and after further investigation, police identified her as the suspect and interviewed her.
During questioning, police allegedly read Marquez her Miranda Rights, and she immediately invoked her right to an attorney.
Police said they showed Marquez the video and afterward told her she would be charged with a felony because she was seen on the recording committing an assault. She allegedly showed no emotion when she was told she was being charged, according to police.
