Bus driver admits assaulting disabled man

by Julie Manganis from The Salem News:
DANVERS — A now-fired bus driver admitted yesterday to backhanding a 21-year-old passenger with Down syndrome because he was irritated by the young man’s attempt to start a conversation with him during one trip last year.
John Marrs, 53, of Ober Street, Beverly, was found guilty of a charge of assault and battery on a disabled person, one of three counts he’d originally faced following an investigation by state police last year.
“At some point you have to draw a line in the sand, and striking a disabled (individual) because of being aggravated or irritated is just unacceptable,” said Salem District Court Judge Michael Lauranzano.
Lauranzano imposed a year of probation, with conditions that include anger management classes and no work with disabled children or adults.
Prosecutors had been seeking a suspended jail term and similar conditions for Marrs, who was a driver for Danvers-based LBK Transportation, which provides rides for developmentally and intellectually disabled people.
The Sept. 19, 2012, incident came to the attention of investigators about a month later, through another passenger, whose grandmother took him to be interviewed by state police and the Essex district attorney’s office, according to a police report.