Inset: Anthony Chavis (Marlboro County Detention Center). Background: Marlboro County Detention Center (Google Maps).
A man from South Carolina was taken into custody after he reportedly chased a school bus with 19 students onboard and drove it off the road. He then tried to force his way through the retractable door of the bus and damaged the rear window. Prior to this incident, the man had been informed by school staff that a bus monitor had allegedly assaulted his son earlier that day.
The father, Anthony Chavis, and the bus monitor, Sharona F. Cooper, were both taken into custody and now face felony charges.
The man, identified as Chavis, is facing charges for obstructing the operation of a school bus, putting children in danger, making threats against a public official (specifically the school principal), causing a disturbance, damaging government property, and disrupting school activities as a non-student. Another individual, Cooper, is being charged with third-degree assault in connection to the incident.
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As detailed in a press release from the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office, the events unfolded on May 22 after students on the bus reported to school authorities that Cooper had allegedly physically assaulted a student who had refused to stay seated in their assigned spot. It was reported that video footage from the bus’s surveillance system showed Cooper using her arm to prevent the student from moving along the aisle of the bus.
Shortly after that incident, Chavis came to the school to pick up his five children. While there, he allegedly became “verbally abusive” toward administration and law enforcement staff, using “profanity and racial slurs and physical motions” to intimidate the other adults.
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Sometime after Chavis picked up his children, the bus departed the school to transport students back home. Authorities say Chavis then “followed the bus and forced the bus off the road,” then used his own car and “blocked its path.” While forcing the bus from the road, authorities said Chavis car and the bus “made contact.”
“As Chavis exited his vehicle, he struck the bus numerous times with his fist; he then attempted to forcibly open the entrance door of the bus to gain entry, which was unsuccessful, causing damage to the door,” the release states. “Then, as the bus was finally able to circumvent Chavis’s car, he threw an object, striking the back glass of the bus and damaging the window. Notably, the bus had 19 children, a bus driver, and the female bus monitor on board, as well as his five kids in his vehicle, during the entirety of the incident.”
Investigators said that just as the alleged assault involving the bus monitor, the incident involving Chavis was also captured by a surveillance camera.
Chavis was denied bond because at the time of the alleged attack he was already out of jail on bond for prior assault charges. Cooper also remained in detention awaiting a bond hearing as of Monday, Myrtle Beach NBC affiliate WMBF reported.
