Dad attacks school employee after child was suspended from riding the bus
Claire Reid
Featured Image Credit: Marion County Sheriff's Office
Police have shared a video appearing to show a dad hit a school employee in an argument about his child being suspended from using the school bus service.
Esdra Burges-Cruz, 50, has been accused of hitting a school employee on a school bus on 2 May, the Marion County Sheriff's Office has said.
Burges-Cruz was arrested and charged with battery on a public or private education employee, burglary and disturbing the peace at a school function.
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The bus was at a stop in Ocala, Florida when the alleged incident occurred.
According to an arrest report seen by Fox News, Burges-Cruz became enraged after discovering his son had been suspended from using the school bus.
The report claims that Burges-Cruz approached the bus and asked the driver if he could get on, when he was told not to he replied: “Shut the f**k up.”
The report also states that he 'made several conditional threats to the victim that if anything else happened to his son that the victim "would see what’s going to happen"'.
In the footage, Burges-Cruz can be heard saying: “If I hear something else about my son you’re gonna see what’s gonna happen.”
Numerous students were onboard the bus at the time, with one whipping out their phone to film what went down.
Officers visited Burges-Cruz’s home where he denied hitting the employee.
But the following day the student who filmed the incident shared the footage with school officials, who passed it onto the police.
After viewing the footage, officers from Marion County Sheriff's Office arrested Burges-Cruz without incident.
In a statement, Marion County School District said: "We believe the arrest speaks loudly and will help the community better understand we expect adults to behave appropriately in the same way we expect our students to behave appropriately.”
Marion County Public Schools spokesperson Kevin Christian said: “It’s always disappointing to see an adult set the wrong example for students to follow and this is that case.
“We do not want students to follow the example that was shown in that video.”
A teacher from the district told WSVN: “Actions have consequences. I don’t know what he thought was going to happen jumping on the bus and attacking a staff member.”
Burges-Cruz was taken to the Marion County Jail and a bond was set at $17,500 - he was released the following day.