Arrest made after crossing guard assaulted in Darby Borough, Pennsylvania
A man has been arrested for the assault of a crossing guard in Darby Borough, Pennsylvania, that was caught on video, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Police said a driver attacked the crossing guard Monday, March 16, near the intersection of South 6th and Walnut streets, close to the Walnut Street Elementary School. The incident was captured on surveillance video that was widely shared on social media.
The U.S. Marshals Service in Philadelphia said Rashiem Russell, 27, of West Philly, was apprehended in Darlington, South Carolina.
Robert Clarke of the U.S. Marshals said Russell fled Pennsylvania to South Carolina, where a close family member of his lives, via bus. Russell was arrested around 11 a.m. at a home in Darlington on Friday, Clarke said.
"When we knocked and announced, we had the family members come to the door that we expected to be there," Clarke said. "And he was called out. He came out, and he complied. It was nice and simple, like we like it. No force was used."
Police believe Russell is the driver of a gold Nissan Altima seen on surveillance video attacking a crossing guard.
According to an affidavit, the crossing guard saw Russell blowing a stop sign at 6th and Walnut streets and motioned for him to slow down as children were crossing. At that point, he "began accelerating and braking in an aggressive manner" and then got out of the car and yelled at her before punching her in the face, knocking her unconscious.
The Philadelphia Police Department spotted the car Wednesday, but someone else was driving, the affidavit says. Witnesses said the car belonged to Russell, who left for South Carolina that morning.
"This was a cowardly act of violence that needed to be dealt with immediately," Clarke said.
Russell is charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, making terroristic threats, harassment and other crimes, Darby Borough Police Chief Joseph Gabe said.
"If you commit a crime in Darby, you will be caught, and you will be prosecuted. Simple. Simple as that," Darby Borough Mayor Joar Dahn said. "So, as I've said before, whoever this individual was, we were going to get you. I told you just yesterday and 24 hours later, we've gotten you."
Gabe said investigators used video to identify Russell.
The crossing guard has since retired from her position. The victim worked for Safe Corridors, a volunteer-based organization that employs about 60 crossing guards in Chester, Darby and Sharon Hill.
The crossing guard was taken to a local hospital with facial injuries but was expected to recover.
Risa DeSilva-King, the crossing guard's former employer, said the arrest brings a sense of relief.
"Given the fact that he assaulted a crossing guard that I knew, I'm happy," DeSilva-King said. "I know that once you've been attacked in the way that she was, it's very difficult to breathe easy again. And so I do hope that his apprehension, his persecution, his jail time will give her some sense of calm."
Russell is being held in the Florence County Jail and will be extradited to Pennsylvania.