Man Guilty of Assaulting East Texas Bus Driver
Posted/updated on: February 26, 2016 at 10:22 am
LONGVIEW — A man accused of beating a Pine Tree ISD bus driver at a stop on his route last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. According to the Longview News-Journal, Michael Jesse Najera, 36, of California, has been held in Gregg County Jail on $1 million bond since he was booked on May 26, the day after police say he beat driver Todd Kelley with an industrial wrench. The Memorial Day assault occurred as Kelley, 47, was dropping off students at a mobile home park entrance.
Police arrested Najera during a search that ended when they were summoned to successive hit-and-run wrecks near Rex Lane and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Najera’s punishment trial started Wednesday in Longview. Najera faces from two to 20 years in prison, plus a fine of up to $10,000, for the second-degree felony.
