District judge bans man charged in bus incident from Peters school property
Seventeen fourth- and fifth-graders on their way home from McMurray Elementary School last month cowered in fear during a confrontation on a school bus, the driver testified in a magisterial court this week.
Barbara Miller/Observer-Reporter
Mark P. Ferrari, left, is shown in this November 2018 file photo after being banned by court order from being on Peters Township School District property or buses. At right is his attorney, Keith Emerick.
As a result, Mark Peter Ferrari, 60, of Locust Drive, is banned from Peters Township school property, including school buses, District Judge Jesse Pettit ordered in holding Ferrari for court on a count of ethnic intimidation and three other misdemeanors.
Pettit also placed Ferrari on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
The hearing Tuesday afternoon on the Oct. 8 incident drew more than a dozen people to the courtroom in McMurray, including former Peters councilman Peter Glasser, who said afterward that his grandson was a passenger on the bus.
Asked if he and the boy discussed the incident, Glasser replied, “I don’t have any public comment. I’m sorry.”
Before making his ruling, Pettit watched a video that Peters Township police Cpl. Gary Orosz played for him on a laptop computer and heard testimony from bus driver Henry Hill, who identified himself as a former police officer who served in Colorado Springs, Colo., retiring 14 years ago.
Hill had stopped his bus on Locust Drive, the bottom of which meets Manor Drive and Beacon Way in a roughly shaped triangle. A vehicle coming from the opposite direction also stopped and blocked the bus.
As children were exiting the bus, on which flashing red lights had been activated, a man Hill identified in the courtroom as Ferrari boarded the bus steps, accused Hill of speeding and yelled obscenities.
“He called me a spic and a Mexican,” Hill testified during direct examination by Assistant District Attorney Nathan Michaux. “I hadn’t heard the word ‘spic’ for 35 years.”
The intruder could be heard on the laptop recording demanding Hill’s name and “badge number.”
Because of the intruder’s aggressive attitude, Hill told the district judge, “I didn’t care what he said. I was concerned for my kids.”
A sign on the bus warns people not to enter without authorization. Hill said he ordered the man to leave the bus, which he did as he said he was going to report Hill. Each man took photographs.
Ferrari’s attorney, Keith Emerick, elicited testimony that his client did not cross a white line at the top of the steps, nor did he take a swing at Hill.
Ferrari was the first to file a report on the incident with police, claiming the bus had been speeding and that he had to drive into a yard to avoid it. Hill later arrived at the police station and filed a separate report.
Emerick unsuccessfully moved to dismiss charges of ethnic intimidation, harassment through the use of lewd language and disorderly conduct, arguing that free speech is a constitutionally protected activity.
As part of a pretrial order, Pettit also told Ferrari to have no contact with Hill. Ferrari’s next court appearance is a formal arraignment scheduled for the end of December.