8-year-old left with fractured skull after man throws rock into school bus in NJ

TEANECK, New Jersey -- 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 Garcia Morales, 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.

Police said he was arrested at a self-made campsite within Old Croaker County Park in Bergen County.

During the investigation, police were able to link Garcia Morales to multiple rock-throwing incidents in Bogota Borough, Bergen County.

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.

The young girl had surgery and is expected to be OK.