School crossing guard slapped, spit on while asking driver to halt at stop sign near Klein school

KLEIN, Texas (KTRK) -- A school crossing guard says a driver spit on and slapped him after asking the driver to stop at a stop sign while the children were getting out of school.

The crossing guard, Shujaat Qureshi, said he was simply directing traffic when a driver ran a stop sign.

He says he started flagging the driver down, and that's when things took a turn.

"I tried to stop him and talk to him, and he just lost it," Qureshi said.

He said when the driver finally stopped, he got out and spit on him.

"It hits me here, and the next thing I know is he opens his door and comes out and gave me one, wham! Wham!"

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This happened on a busy Thursday afternoon. Qureshi helped students cross the street safely, a job he's been doing for five years.

"He had no regard for the crossing guard," Toney Flournoy said.

She saw it happen in front of her house and called 911.

"After I called them, one of the officers was coming around the corner, like he usually does, always roaming through the neighborhood, and I waved him down," she said. "That's when he told the crossing guard to come with him because they had arrested the guy down the street."

Klein ISD police arrested Tom Corello, 27.

Qureshi just wanted Corello to show some remorse.

"I said, 'If he apologizes right now, I don't have anything to say,'" the crossing guard said. "Police said, 'No, he's going to jail.'"

Corello has been charged with injury to the elderly.

Flournoy said she's grateful police arrested the driver because her niece walks to school.

For years, she said she's been fighting to get speedbumps to make drivers like Corello to slow down.

"Depending on where they put the speed bumps, they won't have no choice but to stop, or it's going to tear up their car," Flournoy said.

The attack didn't stop Qureshi from returning to work and helping students cross the street after school.

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