Pender school employee charged with punching student

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A school employee was charged last week on accusations he punched a student, according to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Star News, Robert O’Neil Smith, 35, of Willard, is accused of punching a student in the stomach while on a school bus on Jan. 13, said Capt. James Rowell. Smith was an employee of the school system at the time of the alleged attack, Rowell told the paper.

A Pender Schools spokeswoman tells WWAY Smith resigned from his position as a bus monitor on January 14. She said he was hired in November 2011 as a substitute driver and was made a regular monitor in August of 2014.