Newberry SRO attacked breaking up school bus fight, two teens charged

Two Newberry County 14-year-olds have been charged after a school resource officer and bus driver were attacked Wednesday morning.

The two male students began fighting on a school bus Wednesday morning. The school resource officer got on the bus and along with the driver tried to break up the fight, said Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster in a news release.

One of the boys jumped on the SRO’s back and hit her several times in the face. Although she was able to get both youths under control and take them into custody, she suffered an injury to her wrist and had marks on her face and neck, Foster said.

One of the 14-year-olds was charged with the initial fight and for assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest. He was turned over to the SC Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia. The other boy was charged with fighting.

On Tuesday, an off-duty S.C. Highway Patrol officer was treated for bite wounds, after being attacked by a 13-year-old boy on the school bus near the Sandhill area in Richland County.

Foster said recent events point to the wisdom of placing SROs in schools.

“If someone will assault a police officer and struggle with them, imagine the plight of a school administrator trying to handle this without the training or equipment of a law enforcement officer,” Foster said in his announcement of the Wednesday morning incident.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Newberry SRO attacked breaking up school bus fight, two teens charged."