TEANECK, New Jersey (WABC) — Police have arrested a man after they say he threw a rock into a school bus and left a third-grade girl with a fractured skull in New Jersey.
The 8-year-old girl was in the hospital on Friday after someone on the street threw a rock the size of a baseball into the bus.
The bus was transporting students from a local Jewish day school Wednesday in the northbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike in Teaneck Township just after 2 p.m.
The bus was heading back to Yeshivat Noam from a field trip to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City when it happened.
Police say Hernando Garciamorales, 40, from Palisades Park threw a rock at the vehicle just before the Teaneck Road exit. He has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal mischief, resisting arrest by flight, and hindering.
The rock shattered the glass and struck the 8-year-old girl in the head.
Authorities say no one else on the bus was injured.
The Jewish Federation put out a statement that said in part it is aware of the incident and closely monitoring the situation.
Officials say there were no markings on the bus identifying it as a Jewish school bus, so the exact motive is still under investigation.
State police are investigating it as an aggravated assault.
The young girl had surgery and is expected to be OK.
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