RALEIGH - Derry A. Schmidt has returned to work for the state Department of Transportation, which dismissed him last year after he was charged with assaulting a Wake County school bus driver.

Schmidt, of Cary, was sentenced in January to 25 days of house arrest and three years' probation after a jury convicted him of misdemeanor assault. He was arrested in May 2007 after a confrontation in the Cary Elementary School parking lot.

The driver testified that Schmidt cursed at her, uttered a racial slur and bumped her with his car.

Schmidt's attorney, John E. Campion of Raleigh, said Schmidt had challenged his firing with the state Office of Administrative Hearings. He dropped his appeal after reaching a settlement with DOT.

A DOT spokesman confirmed that Schmidt was reinstated June 30 as a transportation engineer.

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