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Charges: Bus Driver Slapped Unruly Child

FARIBAULT COUNTY, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Blue Earth Area School bus driver was charged with fifth-degree assault after allegedly slapping a child who had spit on, kicked, and made other children on the bus cry, according to a criminal complaint filed in Faribault County.

The complaint states that Jane Elizabeth Brooks, 72, of Blue Earth, Minn., had slapped the boy on the cheek, and said, "Well, maybe that's what he needed," when other riders questioned the action.

Some juvenile riders reported that the boy had been bleeding afterward.

The complaint states that the boy had hit another smaller child on the head with a book bag, making the child cry. Brooks stopped the bus and moved the boy to a different seat – the one right behind the bus driver.

The boy then began to kick children across the aisle from him. When Brooks asked older riders to sit with the boy and babysit him, they declined. After contacting the school for assistance, Brooks wasn't able to receive help, but was told to move other children away from the boy.

As Brooks was doing so, the boy spit on the children in the seat behind him. On the bus' video, one of the children can be seen wiping the spittle off her face.

Brooks told the boy not to spit on other children and after he spit yet again, Brooks slapped him.

The maximum penalty for fifth-degree assault is 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine.

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