A man accused of attacking an Orange County Transportation Authority bus driver in Costa Mesa, Calif. pleaded not guilty to charges May 17.

The charges came after a bus driver on May 13 asked a passenger to sit down about 6:40 p.m. Rather than complying, the passenger struck the bus’s COVID-19 partition until it broke and hurt the driver, police said. The victim was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Dennis Lee Bunton, 49, was charged with a felony count of battery against a transportation worker and a misdemeanor count of assault against a transportation worker.

Bunton is set to return to court June 1 at the West Justice Center in Westminster for a pretrial hearing.