Taunton crossing guard fired after physical altercation at high school – NBC Boston

A Taunton, Massachusetts crossing guard was arrested and fired Monday after allegedly physically assaulting a woman on high school grounds.

Taunton Public Schools said in a statement to NBC10 Boston that they were aware of the physical altercation that occurred on June 3 involving the crossing guard.

As a result of the incident, the crossing guard was terminated, effective immediately, and is no longer an employee of Taunton Public Schools, the district said.

Taunton police confirmed they were investigating the incident and said officers responded around 7:30 a.m. to Taunton High School, located at 50 Williams Street, for a report of a disturbance involving a crossing guard from the Taunton School District and occupants of a motor vehicle.

Following their on-scene investigation, police said the crossing guard, identified as Louis Chaves, 68, of Taunton, was arrested. He was arraigned later Monday in Taunton District Court on three counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon.

Prosecutors argued in court that the incident happened on the road to Taunton High School. The victim told police that Chaves “hit me with a stop sign stick.”

The woman claims she was crossing an intersection when she had to sneeze, so she stopped her car to get a tissue in the middle of the intersection, prosecutors said. Chaves allegedly yelled at her to keep driving, so the woman responded, at which point Chaves allegedly passed the signal stick through the vehicle's window and began waving it at her in the car.

As Chaves waved the stop sign stick into the vehicle, it struck the victim's young daughter in the arm. The girl told police that Chaves was trying to hit her mother, according to prosecutors.

When the woman got out of her vehicle to confront Chaves, he allegedly attacked her, threw her to the ground, kicked her and dragged her. She had lacerations on her arm and one of her flip-flops was in the middle of the roadway, prosecutors said.

Chaves was hiring a court-appointed attorney and is due back in court Aug. 8 for a pretrial hearing. He was ordered to stay away from the victim.