Bus driver retires after arrest

A Perkins Schools bus driver retired from the district in May, about a week after he was arrested for an alleged assault, according to police.David Mulvin, 56, of Sandusky, pleaded not guilty at a court hearing Wednesday to charges of assault and obstructing official business, a first-degree and second-degree misdemeanor, respectively.Police arrested Mulvin at about 10 p.m. May 21, after a Corso's Flower and Garden Center truck driver alleged he drunkenly punched him twice in the face in the business truck yard.Mulvin pounded the driver's door of the man's truck while it was running and yelled at him to turn it off, according to a Perkins police report.When the driver refused, Mulvin punched him through the window, then fled to the barn behind Mulvin's Farms, visibly intoxicated, the man said.When police arrived, the truck driver was bleeding and had a fresh wound on his forehead, according to the report.Police couldn't locate Mulvin at the farm, and he refused to answer the door of his home in the 3500 block of Jeanette Drive.A woman answered and eventually got Mulvin on the phone with police, but he didn't budge, citing "ongoing issues" he and his mother have with Corso's Flower and Garden Center.Police promptly issued warrants for Mulvin's arrest.The next morning, Mulvin responded to the Perkins Police Department. He was taken to Erie County Jail, where he was released of his own recognizances the following afternoon. The bus driver retired from Perkins Schools on May 29, effective May 31, according to a meeting agenda.The retirement was not influenced by the charges and occurred because he could receive increased benefits if he retired at that time, Mulvin said. He worked 11 years at Perkins Schools.Mulvin contends there were no witnesses present May 21 and the police report's account of the situation is inaccurate."What one person says happened isn't exactly what happened," he said. "I'm still working on this with the court."When contacted Friday, Perkins school board members directed the Register to superintendent Jim Gunner for comments. Gunner did not return two calls seeking comment Friday afternoon.Mulvin was a 2008 candidate for Erie County Commissioner. During his campaign, a woman filed a domestic violence civil protection order against him in Erie County Common Pleas Court, alleging he was "intimidating, controlling, physically abusive and emotionally neglectful" while she was living with him.Mulvin's ex-sister-in-law also filed a civil stalking protection order against him in 2007.