Police: Banned student arrested for riding bus to school

POCAHONTAS, Ark. (KAIT) - Despite being criminally banned from campus, police said an 18-year-old man hopped on a school bus Thursday morning to visit his friends.

Pocahontas police arrested Swinton Tarkij on suspicion of unauthorized entry of a school bus and criminal trespass on school land, both misdemeanors.

According to the initial incident report, school officials called Pocahontas police around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, after Tarkij showed up on campus.

The school principal told officers that Tarkij had been expelled and criminally banned from the school following a separate incident.

However, video footage provided by the district reportedly showed Tarkij stepping off a bus in the “horseshoe area” at the middle school, then walking over to a group of students.

“Swinton Tarkij could be seen in the video talking with these individuals before starting to walk toward the high school,” the report said.

Apparently, Tarkij left the campus and returned home, where police found him wearing the same clothes he was wearing at school.

“Officers asked Swinton Tarkij if he had been at school. Initially, he indicated that he had not,” the report said. “But later stated that he had talked with some of his friends at school this morning.”

Police then arrested Tarkij and took him to the Randolph County Detention Center, where he was booked and cited.

According to online inmate records, Tarkij had not bonded out and was still in custody as of Friday afternoon.