SALISBURY — A school bus driver at Overton Elementary School has been charged with assaulting a 7-year-old autistic boy, the Salisbury Police Department said Thursday night.

Grace Oshields King of Salisbury turned herself in on charges of assault on a child under 12 and assault on a handicapped person. Both are misdemeanors.

The principal of Overton called police on Monday to report a possible assault on a student on a school bus. A teacher at the school said she saw a bus driver hit the child, who is nonverbal, according to his father.

The assault happened Friday, according to police.

Detectives reviewed video from the bus, then filed the arrest warrants.

The child was not seriously injured, police said.

King was released on a written promise to appear in court on Feb. 20.

Shane Church, the boy’s father, told the Post on Wednesday that the principal called and told him a bus driver hit his son in the chest.

Church said he was heartbroken to know his child may have been assaulted by someone he trusted. He said King had been driving his son to and from school for two years.

“She deserves to be fired,” Church said.

Church said from now on, he’ll take his son to school.