Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
School bus service was suspended in the St. Croix District on Thursday following a violent incident Wednesday in which a driver was punched, kicked and stomped on by three students while he lay on the floor of the bus, suffering injuries that required his hospitalization.
The V.I. Education Department issued the announcement at 7 a.m. Thursday, advising parents and guardians that the suspension applies to all routes and stops, and that they should make arrangements to deliver their children to their respective schools. It is unclear when service might resume.
The statement came just hours before one of the students was due to appear for his advice of rights hearing Thursday morning at V.I. Superior Court on St. Croix. Caleave Nigel Mascall Jr., 18, was arrested and charged with third-degree assault following the incident and is currently being held at the John A. Bell Adult Correction Facility after being unable to post bail set at $25,000.
Two other students, both minors, were arrested, booked and released to their parents pending juvenile court proceedings, according to the V.I. Police Department.
All are students at St. Croix Central High School.
According to a probable cause fact sheet filed on the docket Thursday in Mascall’s case, the driver told police that the altercation occurred after he pulled up to the shanty near the Strawberry entrance when a student getting off the bus spoke to him in a profane manner, using a common slur. While the court filing names the driver, the Source does not name surviving victims of violence.
The driver “stated that he told the male that everybody has a mother, and you must not be like that. [He] stated that two other males that was on the bus asked him why are you cursing my mother? [He] stated that the first male, later identified as Mr. Caleave Nigel Mascall Jr., ran back onto the bus and started punching him in his head,” and that two other students joined in, the fact sheet states.
The driver ended up on the ground while the students continued to beat him — an assault that was captured on video that has been widely circulated on social media — and suffered a blow to his right eye, blows to his head, as well as about his body, according to the court filing.
The driver told police that eventually, “one of the male individuals said, that is enough, and all three of them exited the bus then he closed the bus door,” but Mascall walked back to the bus door and punched the glass, breaking it. The driver then called 911 and drove to the Ann Schrader Command Police Station. He was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Mascall was later identified from a 911 call made by the parent of the other two students, who stated that they were assaulted along with Mascall, according to the fact sheet. Police subsequently transported Mascall from his Barren Spot home to the police station, where he was advised of his rights and gave a statement, it said.
According to the fact sheet, Mascall told police that when the students left the school, “they were telling the bus driver where everybody must stop. [Mascall] stated that everybody on the bus were saying ‘Yah’ ‘Yah’ ‘Yah,’ and the bus driver did not want to stop. [Mascall] stated that he got up in the bus and said, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ [He] stated that he asked the bus driver if he could stop. [He] stated that he told the bus driver that the children them is telling you to stop and you don’t want to stop.”
When they reached their stop and they were getting off the bus, Mascall told police that his cousin said “this bus smells like sh—” and then heard the bus driver say “just like your mother” several times. Mascall said he asked the driver, “What did you say about my aunty?” and that while he was standing on the bus he saw one of his cousins swing at the driver, according to the fact sheet. Mascall “stated that he also started punching the bus driver, hitting him in his chest several times. [He] stated that they walked off the bus and he went to his residence.”
Education strongly condemned the assault in a statement Wednesday, reiterating its zero-tolerance policy for violence.
“The students violently assaulted the bus driver, endangering not only the driver’s life but also the safety of other students on the bus,” the department stated, adding that it was working with the contracted bus vendor, Abramson Enterprises Inc., to assess the damage to its vehicle.
On Thursday, the department announced the suspension of bus service to the entire district.
