Driver uses truck to block school bus after student’s ‘obscene’ gesture, GA deputies say
A Georgia man is accused of parking his truck in front of a packed school bus after he says a student flipped off his family, deputies and news outlets report.
The 55-year-old man was charged after authorities said he held up a busload of students and picked a fight with their parents in Catoosa County, the Rome News-Tribune reported, citing the county sheriff’s office.
It happened April 24 after the man accused one of the students of flashing an “obscene hand gesture,” according to the newspaper.
Before the incident, the man called sheriff’s deputies to help with traffic as he moved his cattle across the road, WTVC reported. That’s when he said a student on the bus made the vulgar gesture at his wife and child.
The man then blocked the bus with his truck so that it “couldn’t continue its route” and “demanded the student’s information,” according to the news station.
Before deputies arrived, he got into a “heated verbal argument” with parents who showed up after their children called to tell them what was happening, WSB-TV reported, citing an incident report.
Some students were released to their parents and the man left the scene, according to WRCB.
“I think it was a pride or ego thing,” Scarlett Rutherford, whose daughter was on the bus during the incident, told the news station. “I thought it was pretty crazy that he got his feelings hurt by a minor and made that big of a deal out of it.”
Rutherford also took video of the confrontation, in which the man is heard saying “I just want to know where (the student) lives and his name so I can make a report,” WRCB reported.
The bus driver radioed the district’s director of transportation, who then called 911, a Catoosa County Schools spokesperson said. Deputies arrived soon after and made sure the bus was able to finish its afternoon route.
“I appreciate the quick response from our bus driver, director of transportation, and the Sheriff’s Office,” Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Chance Nix said. “I know this was a scary situation for our students and parents.”
The man turned himself in to authorities on April 25 and was charged with disruption or interference with operation of public schools, according the Rome News-Tribune. He was later released on a $1,000 bond.
Catoosa County is about 20 miles southeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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