Cops: Bus driver faces charges after taping boy's mouth
Norman Besemer, 61, has been arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child, Suffolk County police said. Credit: SCPD
The school bus driver who taped an unruly student's mouth shut in an effort to quiet him has been charged with endangering the 10-year-old boy, Suffolk police said.
Norman Besemer, 61, of Shirley, was arrested Tuesday at the Fifth Precinct and released on a desk appearance ticket. He was charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a Class A misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison.
Besemer was driving a bus for the South Country Central School District on Jan. 15 when the boy and other students from Frank P. Long Intermediate School in Bellport began acting up on the bus, said Gregory Miglino Jr., president of the district's board of education.
A district investigation revealed that the driver put duct tape over the boy's mouth to "defuse the situation" and was trying to be funny.
Besemer was later fired from his job with Montauk Bus Service.
Besemer is to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on March 30. A phone message left at his home Tuesday was not returned.
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