WOOLWICH — A school bus driver with Bath Bus Service has been charged with assault after he allegedly pushed a 12-year-old Woolwich student as she was getting off the school bus on Weston Road Thursday afternoon.

The driver, 62-year-old Michael Rouillard of West Bath, was issued a summons by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office Friday for Class D assault, a crime punishable by up to 364 days incarceration and a $2,000 fine. He is scheduled to appear in West Bath District Court on May 12.

Chief Deputy Brett Strout said the student “was slow in getting off the bus on this day, and he pushed her on the backpack and as he pushed, she tripped down the stairs.”

Bath Bus Service is a private bus company which transports students for Regional School Unit 1, which services Bath, Woolwich, Arrowsic and Phippsburg.

“While I cannot discuss specifics, the bus driver will not be driving RSU 1 students,” RSU1 Superintendent Patrick Manuel wrote in an email to The Times Record. “We are cooperating with the Sheriff’s Office, and we will continue to work closely with Bath Bus Service to ensure the safe transportation of students going forward.”

The girl’s mother, Mary Johnston, said the incident was recorded on one of her home security cameras. The video she shared with The Times Record shows Rouillard moving his hand from his knee and then her daughter, perched at the edge of the top stair, trips down the stairs and lands on her feet before turning back to look at the driver before the bus pulls away from her driveway.

Johnston said she took her daughter to the doctor but the girl wasn’t injured.

Her daughter was slow getting off the bus because she’d dropped her phone and was looking for it, Johnston said.

Johnston said her daughter did admit to eating Cheetos on the bus, which is against the rules, but wasn’t being disruptive otherwise and put the food away when caught by Rouillard.

Bath Bus Service Bill Reed did not return phone calls seeking comment Saturday.

Johnston said she isn’t allowing her three children to ride the bus, and she has consulted an attorney and is considering a lawsuit.

Rouillard is not the first driver for Bath Bus Service that has been in trouble with the law for behavior involving students in recent years. Former bus driver Timothy McGowan, 52, was sentenced in August 2019 to 364 days in jail for secretly taking “upskirt” photos of elementary, middle and high school students who were passengers on his bus.

A Maine court record check on Rouillard shows no criminal history.

 

 

« Previous

Mills seeks disaster loans for businesses affected by pandemic

Next »

VIDEO: Lewiston native in Nashville wrote a coronavirus version of “Rhinestone Cowboy”