Cary Dad Faces Assault Charges After School Bus Confrontation

CARY, N.C. — A Cary man faces a number of charges after he allegedly attacked a Wake County school bus driver Wednesday morning in the parking lot of Cary Elementary School.

Derry Aimo Schmidt, 46, of 120 Frohlich Dr., was arrested and charged with three misdemeanor charges of assault and a Class I felony charge of a hate crime in connection with the case.

On his way to the Wake County Jail, Wednesday afternoon, Schmidt told WRAL that the "charges are unwarranted" and "the allegations are false."

Cary Police Capt. Dave Wulff said Schmidt drove into the bus-unloading zone of the school to drop off his child at about 8:30 a.m., instead of the designated area, and was blocked in by the school bus.

The school's principal said Schmidt had been late dropping off his child for school. A sign indicates the area to be for buses only between 7:45 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

Schmidt became upset and got into an argument with the bus' driver, Jametta Lynette Farrar, 35, of Raleigh, and assaulted her, according to an incident report.

Wulff said Schmidt got out of his car, Farrar got off the bus, and he then grabbed her.

"We have descriptions of a shaking, and (he) then threw her to the ground," Wulff said. "Then (he) got into his car to drive forward and drove into her."

"When he hit me, I fell back on the front part of his car, and I sat there," Farrar said. "After that, he said, 'Get off my car,' and by then, he just got out of the car. He came, grabbed me, he jerked me off of his car and shoved me to the ground. And then, he started pulling me out of the way of his car. And I laid there."

No students were on the bus or in the area at the time of the incident. The school sent a letter home to parents Wednesday afternoon talking about it.

Farrar, a bus driver for the school system for 15 years, was taken to WakeMed Cary for her injuries and was later released. She said she was sore and in some pain and planned to take some time off of work to recover.

Witnesses told police that during the confrontation, Schmidt was also yelling racial insults at Farrar, who is black.

Schmidt was in the Wake County Jail Wednesday evening under a $175,000 bond.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of 150 days in jail for each misdemeanor charge and three to 12 months for the felony charge.

Under conditions of his bond, he is ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim and to stay 100 yards away from all Wake County schools and all Wake County school buses.