An 82-year-old bus driver is facing an assault charge after allegedly slapping a man in the face through the driver side window of the school bus.
Around 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 29, Sheffield Village police responded to Parkhurst Drive after they received information regarding the assault.
According to police, the driver, Robert Schmidt, was dropping children off in the area when he was approached by the 57-year-old victim.
The victim told officers he had walked up to the bus to let the driver know his red signals were not on. Schmidt allegedly took offense to it, “flipped him off” and started shouting obscenities at the victim before reaching out of the bus window to slap the man in the face.
Schmidt was hired by the school district in 2013 and has had a clean record thus far.
The district issued the following statement:
“Our staff, board, and I spend every day trying to build positive relationships with our community members and strive for outstanding customer service. It is unfortunate that this happened to any community member and even more unfortunate that a few students observed it happening.”
Two elementary students were on the bus at the time of the incident.
Schmidt was charged with simple assault and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 6.
