SAN DIEGO (CBS) — A 12-year-old Chula Vista boy is facing criminal charges for spitting out a school bus window.

Michael Crowe was suspended from Eastlake Middle School for five days after admitting he spit his gum out of a school bus window in January.

His spit reportedly landed on a man and his daughter who were driving in a convertible.

“He’s a boy. He had some gum and didn’t want it in his mouth anymore, he spit it out of the window,” his mother, Lisa Crowe, said.

Michael was later arrested by Chula Vista police for misdemeanor battery.

Police accused Lisa Crowe of grandstanding. Authorities say the charge would have been dropped if Crowe had written an essay, entered a diversion program and apologized.