Taunton crossing guard allegedly attacked woman with stop sign near school

TAUNTON – A school crossing guard is accused of attacking a mother and her child with a stop sign near Taunton High School Monday morning.

Prosecutors say a woman was crossing the intersection where 68-year-old Louis Chaves worked around 7:30 a.m. when she had to stop to sneeze and blow her nose.

“As she was sneezing, she stopped the vehicle because she needed a tissue to blow her nose,” a prosecutor said Monday at Chaves’ arraignment. “While she was stopped in the middle of the intersection, the crossing guard, this defendant approached her passenger side window and yelled at her to keep driving. She began yelling at the crossing guard.”

“He stings me with his stop sign”

The woman told police that Chaves placed the stop sign out the passenger window and began swinging it around. The woman says a child in the car was hit by the stick.

“I was like you need to calm down,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “He reached into my car and started hitting me with his stop sign and as he tried to get to me he was hitting my 12-year-old child.”

The mother got out of her car and claims she was thrown to the ground, punched and kicked.

“When the parent exited the vehicle and confronted the defendant about the assault, that’s when the defendant began attacking him with a stop sign stick, eventually throwing her to the ground While she was on the ground, she was dragged and kicked repeatedly by the accused,” the prosecutor said.

The woman had multiple abrasions and lacerations on her arm. “I was left with a bump on my head, a bruise on the side of my face and a cut on my wrist,” the woman said.

Chaves faces three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was released on his own recognizance.

One parent who witnessed the chaos as she dropped off her own students said: “It doesn’t add up.”

“Maybe he was having a bad day or something, but I think it all escalated to a point where there was no need to go there,” said the witness, who did not wish be identified. “From her. I think she started it.”

Taunton Public Schools said the crossing guard was fired after the incident.

Confrontation with journalists outside court

Chaves was visibly upset and conflicted as he left the field Monday afternoon. The video shows him pushing, shoving and kicking journalists.

“I think about the devastation and the shock of being in court and finding out you’ve lost your job, and the embarrassment you have to face in a city where you’ve lived all your life,” said the son-in-law of Chaves. “It’s a big thing and a big adjustment to make instantly and get out there and now you have cameras in your face.”

He was arrested by Taunton police Monday evening for the incident outside the court. He will be arraigned Tuesday morning on several charges, including battery with a dangerous weapon.