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Background: The apartment complex in Greenwood, Ind., where the alleged incident took place on Oct. 31 (Google Maps). Insets (left to right): Donquarious Ridley and Raven Barner (Johnson County Jail).
Two parents in Indiana face charges following an alleged altercation involving children on a school bus. The incident led to the arrests of Donquarious Ridley, 27, and Raven Barner, 25, who are accused of attacking several young students.
On Monday, authorities charged Ridley and Barner with two counts of battery against a child under 14. Ridley also faces an additional charge for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. As detailed in a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, the Greenwood Police Department responded to reports at an apartment complex on the morning of October 31. Witnesses claimed that Ridley and Barner boarded a school bus and began shouting at the children.
The police report indicates that Ridley and Barner confronted the children over alleged bullying of their son, with Barner identified as the boy’s stepmother. According to the affidavit, bus security footage captured the entire incident, showing the couple boarding the bus without the driver’s permission after their son had been picked up.
The video evidence reportedly shows Barner engaging in a heated exchange with two children, allegedly threatening one by saying she would “beat his a—.” She further purportedly threatened to have her stepson retaliate against the same child. Barner can also be seen on camera seemingly urging her stepson to instigate a confrontation.
Barner allegedly initiated a verbal altercation with two children and told one of them that she would “beat his a—.” She then allegedly told the same boy that she would get her stepson to “beat his a—.” Barner could apparently be seen in the video “encouraging” her stepson to “start an altercation.”
When the bus driver got up and put herself between Barner and one of the children, Barner allegedly struck two of the kids, one of them “inadvertently.”
Ridley was also allegedly seen on video telling his son to engage with the boy Barner allegedly hit. Police said that Ridley’s son complied and hit the other boy. Ridley then allegedly threw the boy to the ground, allowing his son to “begin striking him repeatedly.” Following his son’s alleged attack on the boy, Ridley then shoved another child back into one of the bus seats “hard enough to hit the side of the bus.”
Police tracked down Ridley and Barner while they were driving and initiated a traffic stop. Both parents were arrested and booked into the Johnson County Jail.
Ridley was charged with two counts of battery on a child under the age of 14 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Barner was charged with two counts of battery on a child under the age of 14. Neither parent appeared on the Johnson County Jail roster on Tuesday.
Ridley is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 1; Barner is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 4.