TAUNTON, Mass. (WPRI) — Police arrested a school crossing guard in Taunton after he reportedly attacked a mother in front of her four young children Monday morning.

 

Officers were called to Williams Street upon receiving reports of a crossing guard who had assaulted a driver.

 

That crossing guard, identified by police as 68-year-old Louis Chaves, was arrested and charged with three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

 

Prosecutors said the woman had sneezed while stopped at an intersection near Taunton High School and was trying to find a tissue when Chaves began yelling at her to keep moving.

 

Chaves then put his handheld stop sign through an open passenger window and began “swinging it around the car,” according to prosecutors. He ended up hitting one of the woman’s four children in the arm with the sign, which prosecutors said prompted her to get out of the car and confront Chaves.

 

Prosecutors said Chaves starting hitting the woman with the stop sign and eventually threw her to the ground. He then allegedly dragged her and kicked her repeatedly as her children watched from the car.

 

More at wpri.com.