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One of three men accused in beating over ‘Muslim greeting’ headed to county court

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<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; In a moment&#8217;s notice Wednesday, Rob Shinal went from being a school bus driver to being a hero.</p><p>Returning early from his scheduled run for Williams Bus Line &#8212; now Student Transportation of America &#8212; Shinal noticed a car in the bus company&#8217;s parking lot. The car was running, a green garden hose extended from its exhaust pipe through the driver&#8217;s side window.</p><p>Figuring something was terribly wrong, Shinal approached the car.</p><p>He found a woman sitting in the front, a bottle of wine on the seat next to her. Then he noticed two small children &#8212; a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl &#8212; sitting in the back seat wearing seat belts.</p><p>Seat belts would not have protected those kids from what their mother had planned.</p><p>Melissa Ann Scholl, 32, told Shinal she had had enough and was giving up. She was going to kill herself and take two of her children with her.</p><p>Rob Shinal put an end to that plan.</p><p>Shinal, 43, of East Northampton Street in Wilkes-Barre Township, did what we all hope we would do in the same situation.</p><p>This was personal for Shinal. He recognized the children. They board his bus in the morning and he drops them off after school.</p><p>Shinal knocked on the window of Scholl&#8217;s 2001 blue Saturn. He asked her to roll the window down and, when she did, he grabbed the hose and pulled it out of the car &#8212; ending the threat of asphyxiation.</p><p>Those kids weren&#8217;t going to die that day.</p><p>Shinal asked Scholl what was going on. He said she looked distraught and told him she was a single mom trying to raise her kids with no child support.</p><p>&#8220;I tried to talk to her,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I told her things would get better.&#8221;</p><p>Ironically, Shinal shouldn&#8217;t have been in the bus yard at that time. He was scheduled to transport the GAR High School basketball team, but the run had been cancelled. As fate would have it, he returned to the bus company two hours earlier than scheduled.</p><p>When Shinal pulled his bus into its assigned parking spot, he faced Scholl&#8217;s car. His first reaction was to use his personal vehicle to block Scholl&#8217;s car in so she couldn&#8217;t pull away.</p><p>Janelle Davison, manager of the bus company, believes Shinal was meant to be there at that time, calling him a great person and a top-notch bus driver.</p><p>&#8220;I truly believe it was meant to be for him to find that family,&#8221; Davison said. &#8220;So many actions fell into place for it to be him.</p><p>&#8220;There truly was a higher power at work here,&#8221; Davison added. &#8220;I just feel like had he not been there when he was that this would be a totally different story and a totally different conversation.&#8221;</p><p>Scholl lives across Blackman Street from the bus company.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think they knew what was going on,&#8221; Shinal said of the children. &#8220;But when the police showed up, they got scared.&#8221;</p><p>Those two kids will forever be indebted to him for his quick and heroic action.</p><p>As for Scholl, many have already passed judgment. Some have convicted her. Others feel she needs help. The legal system will sort all that out.</p><p>When I arrived at the scene Wednesday night, I saw the car. The green garden hose was still inserted into the exhaust pipe. The car door was open. Scholl was in custody. The kids were on their way to the hospital.</p><p>To see that scene was to realize what could have happened. The next day&#8217;s front page story could have been about a double-murder/suicide with three victims &#8212; a disturbed mother and her two very young and very innocent kids with so much life to live.</p><p>For some reason, though, Rob Shinal was summoned to that parking lot. For some reason, Scholl had parked her car right where Shinal could see her when he pulled his bus into its space.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad the outcome was good,&#8221; Shinal told me. &#8220;I&#8217;m just glad I was there in time.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121015SWM-attempted-homicide1-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A garden hose can be seen in the exhaust pipe of Melissa Ann Scholl&#8217;s car Wednesday evening. Scholl has been charged with two counts of attempted homicide of two of her children. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121015SWM-attempted-homicide1-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>A garden hose can be seen in the exhaust pipe of Melissa Ann Scholl&#8217;s car Wednesday evening. Scholl has been charged with two counts of attempted homicide of two of her children. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121115Shinal1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL121115Shinal1.jpg</photo2><caption2></caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Bus driver was in the right place at the right time