Teen guilty in assault on Portsmouth bus driver

PORTSMOUTH

A 14-year-old Cradock Middle School student was found guilty Wednesday of malicious wounding for a June 9 assault on a school bus driver that left her with mouth injuries and a black eye.

The youth will remain in a juvenile detention center awaiting a July 27 sentence hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

The Virginian-Pilot generally does not name minors convicted of crimes unless they are tried as adults.

The driver, Reena Mulder, testified at the trial that students grew rowdy when she took a detour the afternoon of June 9, and some began to curse her. When she realized she was passing a stop in Douglass Park, she said, she put on the brakes more abruptly than normal.

Students who were standing stumbled forward. Some fussed and said they would call the school to complain, she said.

The 14-year-old stood over Mulder and called her an obscene name, she said. He told her she had made him hit his face and that he would now punch hers, Mulder said.

Students appeared to be trying to get him off the bus, Mulder said. She thought he was exiting, and she looked in the rearview mirror to see how many students were left.

The next thing she remembered, she was alone on the bus and bleeding, Mulder testified.

She had a black eye, a cut on her nose, and a broken upper palate. Two of her teeth were pushed in at a 45-degree angle, she said.

Mulder was admitted to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for oral surgery and remained there for four days, she said. On the stand, she held her mouth open for the judge and attorneys to see the wire holding her teeth in place.

Rosalynn Sanderlin, the principal at Cradock Middle, described the 14-year-old as an honor roll student on the path to college. Sanderlin read a statement he wrote for her about the incident. He said he and other students were going to the front of the bus to get off as it slowed and that the driver sped up, then slammed on the brakes, causing them to fly forward.

"That's when I hit my eye on the seat and that's when things spiraled out of control," he wrote. "Even though I was mad I should have never put my hands on a female or an individual, period, and I accept full responsibility for my actions." He gave a similar statement to police.

On Wednesday, he entered a plea of not guilty.

His lawyer, George Bowser, argued that the driver didn't see her assailant and couldn't identify the youth as the aggressor. He also sought a lesser charge, saying that only one punch was thrown.

Prosecutor Regina Turner Sykes said it was unlikely one punch caused the driver's injuries.

Janie Bryant, (757) 446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com