ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies say an angry father in Rowan County is facing charges after getting onto a school bus and cursing at students and the driver.
Lucio Martinez and his wife, Ana, told Hannah Goetz they’re breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday after watching their daughter get off the school bus safely.
They said it’s been difficult to send her off to school every day since a parent was arrested for getting on the bus last week.
“I try to teach my kids to defend themselves and what to do in a situation like that, but it’s just, you cannot prevent it,” Martinez said.
Their daughter, Azura, told Goetz her classmate’s dad got on the bus at his stop after his son got in trouble. She said the dad then threatened the students.
“His dad looked really mad and so he went in the bus and said whichever one of us told on him or hurt him, he was going to hurt all of us,” she said.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office tells us that Justin Goodman got on the bus last Thursday and started yelling and cursing at the driver and students. They say he eventually took his son off the bus, and followed the bus to the stop at Eller Road and Country Place Drive.
Deputies say Goodman was yelling and waving his fists before illegally passing the bus while kids were trying to exit.
Ana told Goetz that Azura was terrified.
“She was still crying and she couldn’t even talk and tell me,” she said.
Deputies say that a report filed by the school resource officer doesn’t say any weapon was involved. A statement from Rowan Salisbury Schools says, in part, “[The district] views buses as safe spaces, and it is against the law for anyone who is not authorized to be on the bus.”
The sheriff’s office says charges are pending.
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