A local lawmaker and former judge in Washington State has resigned after she allegedly assaulted an autistic student on a school bus she was driving.

Jeanette Burrage, a councilwoman in Des Moines, 15 miles south of Seattle, resigned Wednesday after she was charged with fourth-degree assault, the Waterland Blog, a Seattle-area news outlet, reported.

The charge stems from a March 10 incident in which Burrage allegedly slapped a special-needs child on the school bus she was driving.

"It is with a heavy heart that I resign my position as a Des Moines City Council member," Burrage wrote in her resignation letter. "The City Council has important work to do and I anticipate the only way I can minimize the distraction to the City Council, caused by the recent school bus incident, is to resign effective immediately."

Video of the incident, which was captured on a security camera inside the school bus, shows Burrage reprimanding a 6-year-old child who was standing on a seat in the bus and then slapping the child, whose mother says is autistic.

Burrage, 62, is a former Washington state legislator and King County Superior Court judge. She has been a professional school bus driver for the Highline School District since 2012.

She has been placed on administrative leave by the school district.