An elderly Bronx school-bus driver was nearly beaten to death for accidentally knocking off a side-view mirror on a double-parked car yesterday, cops said.

Beloved grandfather Juan Delvalle, 65, was driving two city middle-school students home in a standard-sized yellow bus on narrow Anthony Avenue near Echo Place at around 11:40 a.m., when he clipped the illegally parked 2010 Chrysler Sebring, ripping off its mirror, officials and witnesses said.

Local thug Joey Scott, 30, who was leasing the Sebring, heard the commotion from his nearby Tremont apartment building and ran out in a rage to confront Delvalle, sources said.

“The owner of the car came out and saw what happened [and] told the bus driver, ‘Are you going to leave after hitting my car?’ ” said a deli worker who witnessed the confrontation. “The bus driver wanted to call the police, but instead, the owner of the car punched him twice.”

Delvalle fell backward, and his head struck the pavement and began bleeding profusely, authorities said.

He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital with severe head trauma. Originally listed in critical condition, he was later upgraded to stable.

Meanwhile, Scott, who has a long rap sheet, fled like a coward, officials said.

Devalle “gets up at 3:30 a.m. every day for work,” said his shattered brother, who lives with him. “He was talking about planning to retire.”

Atlantic Express bus company co-worker Carolyn Daly added, “It’s completely unbelievable. [Delvalle’s] a very gentle man who has worked for us for a long time.”

Betty Lauriano, a co-worker of Delvalle’s, said, “Everyone loves him, he’s a nice guy. We’re in this situation almost every single day, bad neighborhoods, and people become violent.”

The two IS 313 students on the bus were not hurt, and their parents were quickly notified.

Before cops arrived, Scott’s girlfriend, Teona White, 28, had hopped into the Chrysler and sped off, the sources said.

But cops tracked down the leased car — and White was taken into custody — thanks to a Lojack tracking system in the vehicle, the sources said.

Cops at first thought Scott was with his girlfriend but eventually traced him back to their apartment.

Officers descended on the six-story apartment building, with police holding bulletproof shields barging into it to apprehend him. But Scott didn’t come easily, and it took two hours to negotiate his surrender.

Additional reporting by Kenneth Garger and Larry Celona