SALEM — The Salem mother charged Thursday with slapping a 5-year-old girl on board a school bus said yesterday that she regrets going onto the bus but insisted that "at no time did I hit that child."
Dominique Hans told reporters before her court appearance yesterday that she "touched her chin and turned her head and told her 'I do not want you to hit him again,'" after the girl started crying and looking out the window when approached. Hans insisted she never hit the girl.
Hans said the little girl had hit her 6-year-old son earlier in the week, leaving a scratch on his face, and said school officials failed to follow up on her complaint.
A police report paints a very different picture, however, of a "crazed and determined" mother marching onto a school bus, screaming at the driver, and then yelling at and slapping the kindergartner.
"Hans charged the girl and began hitting her in the head and face," police said in an incident report, "all the meanwhile yelling and screaming at the little girl to never touch her son again."
The little girl was "very upset," police said, but did not suffer any physical injuries.
The school transportation supervisor, Alan Leclair, told police that Hans called him after the incident and admitted that "she took matters into her own hands and boarded the bus this morning and slapped the kid who hit her son." Leclair said Hans "sounded wild" and told police he "could not get a word in."
Hans, 38, of 8 Heritage Drive, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct during her arraignment yesterday in Salem District Court.
She remains free on $1,000 cash bail set at the police station Thursday night, with newly added conditions that were set at the request of prosecutor Matthew Hemond. Those conditions include an order barring her from unsupervised contact with any child under 12 except for her own, no contact with the victim or her family, and an order that she stay away from the school bus stop the girl uses.
Mark McNally, a lawyer appointed yesterday to represent her, declined to comment.
The mother of the girl who was allegedly struck by Hans also left court without commenting.
School officials are conducting their own investigation into both the incident Thursday and Hans' allegation that her own son was bullied earlier in the week, Salem Superintendent Stephen Russell said.
Hans said she was frustrated and angry over what she perceived as a lack of action from the school bus driver and the school.
She said her son was born prematurely and is smaller than other children in his class. She said she told the girl, "When you hit him, you hurt him more than you think."
Hans acknowledged that the girl's mother is angry, "but there's another side of the story. While she's upset, she needs to know I am, too."
Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or at jmanganis@salemnews.com.
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