3 kids beat another kid, black eyes and broken arm on schoolbus; driver calls cops

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andthebeatgoeson

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So what's the big deal? Call the cops if old.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/05/justice/florida-school-bus-beating/index.html

Trapped on the floor between the bus seats, he cries out as he receives fierce punch after vicious kick from the three bigger, older youths.
As the relentless assault unfolds, the driver of the Florida school bus alerts the dispatcher, pleading for aid. But he doesn't physically step in to help.

"You gotta get somebody here quick, quick, quick, quick," he says. "They're about to beat this boy to death over here."
"Please get somebody here quick. There's still doing it," he adds. "There's nothing I can do."

Earlier, he told CNN affiliate WFLA he was "in shock" and "petrified." And he told CNN that watching the video is "like a bad dream."
"I took it really personal. I had many sleepless nights. I had nightmares," he said.
Moody retired two weeks after the attack, after 18 years driving buses. The fight was "the final straw -- and it was a big straw, too," he said.
Police say the youths attacked the 13-year-old after he told officials at their dropout prevention school that one of them had tried to sell him drugs. The ferocity of the attack left the victim with two black eyes and a broken arm

Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent told WFLA that Moody should have stepped in.
"There was clearly an opportunity for him to intervene and or check on the welfare of the children or the child in this case, and he didn't make any effort to do so," Vincent said.
But prosecutors say they have no grounds on which to bring charges.
"It wasn't like he was looking out the window cleaning his fingernails or something like that," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett, according to CNN affiliate WFLA.

According to Pinellas County school policy, the bus driver isn't required to intervene, only to call dispatch. He can step in, if he feels it's safe.
Police said Moody could have given first aid to the victim after the attackers jumped off the bus, but Bartlett said the 13-year-old didn't hang around.
"The kid gets up and skedaddles out the door," he said.

Such a weird twist to this story. Out of all the recent stories of people getting whupped, I don't normally recall officials making such a big deal out of the bus driver not stepping in. I know Florida is a big state with a diverse group of people but let me get this straight: one teenager is enough to make you fear for your life and shoot the kid but 3? Fuck it, you can take them on Grandpa. Am I missing something?
 
If the driver stepped in and one of the attacking kids was hurt, the driver would have been held responsible for that.

He did the right thing, as horribly frustrating as that is.
 
Have to side with the driver here- he can potentially stop the melee, get sued by anyone involved in the fight, and loose his job, house, insurance... I'm sure he would have done something if it had been hyper-violent and potentially life threatening.
 
Why should he step in he was not paid to do it.

You naturally want to come to the aid of someone getting the shit kicked out of them. At least I do.

It's a frustrating situation but I won't blame the driver for not stepping in.
 
For a good reference of a bus driver not doing shit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjDooo6XPao

That guy didn't do a damn thing. Maybe this is all related. People in Florida are tired of being portrayed as the bad guyz and want their bus drivers to be a little more proactive.

I want parents of Florida (and the world) to be proactive in raising their children. that doesn't happen though and it's ridiculous to expect public servants to be "proactive" in raising their kids.

You naturally want to come to the aid of someone getting the shit kicked out of them. At least I do.

It's a frustrating situation but I won't blame the driver for not stepping in.

Most of humanity looks towards self-preservation first and foremost.
 
I would have been yelling for order. If they turn their attention to me, then am I clear on the count of self defense?

This article is about the bus driver, but what about the parents of the bully kids? WTF happens to them?
 
How did the three teenagers find out that the kid ratted them out? The kids name should have NEVER been released to prevent things like this from happening.
 
Wow at that one kid stomping. How can you be so seemingly detached from the pain you're causing others at such a young age? Mindless and heartless.
 
Wasnt there a story recently off a driver stepping in and getting fired for touching a student?

You know what... As I read your post...

Fuck that. My job isn't worth the welfare or life of another child. I'd have to step the fuck in. Yeah, Id risk everything. But I wouldn't regret a damn thing.

Sometimes the "right" thing to do isn't written in a rulebook.
 
You know what... As I read your post...

Fuck that. My job isn't worth the welfare or life of another child. I'd have to step the fuck in. Yeah, Id risk everything. But I wouldn't regret a damn thing.

Sometimes the "right" thing to do isn't written in a rulebook.

That's fine but don't blame the driver for following the rules. Blame the district for such a shitty policy.
 
Why is "doing nothing" and "beating the three bullies" the only options? How about putting himself between the kid and the bullies?
 
How did the three teenagers find out that the kid ratted them out? The kids name should have NEVER been released to prevent things like this from happening.

There're many ways to find something like that out. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch for the kids to assume who did it if they get in trouble right after they tried to sell drugs to a person. I'm sure they have the mental capacity to deduce who told... or it could have been as simple as seeing the kid go tell.
 
Why is "doing nothing" and "beating the three bullies" the only options? How about putting himself between the kid and the bullies?

He's a man in his 60's. He does that and now they start to pound on him and then what? I'm pissed this happened but I'm pissed at the 15 year old "kids" they did this.

I think it's easy to armchair quaterback the entire thing but I don't blame the guy for not getting involved. He was there, that was his decision.
 
Our bus drivers would just stop the bus and open the doors for the fighting kids to get off the bus.
Never saw a many on one fight, and well the last time I saw one in school we all jumped in to make it equal.
 
Why is "doing nothing" and "beating the three bullies" the only options? How about putting himself between the kid and the bullies?

I assume to do that in a bus, one would have to make some sort of contact with at least one of the three boys committing assault. How can you pull three people off someone without grabbing them and shoving them? In most places, that's enough to get an assault charge of your own. If I were a bystander I would do it, but you hear stories all the time of security guards and other employees like this touching people and immediately getting fired. I read a story about a lifeguard getting fired for performing a rescue because someone was drowning outside their little invisible zone.
 
Once a neighbor's kid wouldn't give my kid their toy back and kept playing keep-away and ran around teasing. So I walked over and took the toy back. His parents called the cops


And...? Hoping the cops came and told the parents of the shitty kids to stop being shitty parents?
 
Why is "doing nothing" and "beating the three bullies" the only options? How about putting himself between the kid and the bullies?

I guess your 3rd option is for the driver and the kid to get beat?

I mean, I'm with you in that I'd like to think I'd step in and try to defend him at the risk of my own life, but I'm not necessarily going to fault this man for being scared to death at the thought they might beat him too if he intervened. I'm not sure everyone should have to be required to self sacrifice their life just so they're not looked at as the scum of the Earth. Sure I wouldn't slap the word "brave" onto this man's chest or anything, but I think he's just human and scared like the kid was.
 
i don't know if yall have been outside recently but all that hormone shit in food these days can easily get you adult size gradeschoolers.

unless this elderly bus driver was trained in CQC... calling the cops was the smart move.
 
If cops don't have a duty to put the lives of civilians above their own, why do the same expect a fucking bus driver to do so when he is old and outnumbered?
 
Seems shitty to try and pin the blame on the driver. And it's a bit rich to see police criticising him for not risking bodily harm. They're the experts in that after all.
 
I guess your 3rd option is for the driver and the kid to get beat?

I mean, I'm with you in that I'd like to think I'd step in and try to defend him at the risk of my own life, but I'm not necessarily going to fault this man for being scared to death at the thought they might beat him too if he intervened. I'm not sure everyone should have to be required to self sacrifice their life just so they're not looked at as the scum of the Earth. Sure I wouldn't slap the word "brave" onto this man's chest or anything, but I think he's just human and scared like the kid was.

Also, the story has not said what kind of shape the man was in; if he could even physically handle one teenager, let alone all three of them. It obviously took a toll on him mentally after seeing what happened, he left his job shortly after.

On the bright side, at least he called the cops. On the bus I used to ride on in high school, all kinds of shit happened in the back seats - smoking, hand jobs, small amounts of fighting; the bus driver just kept on his route. I think the bus driver did all he could, and all that was expected of him.
 
Police say the youths attacked the 13-year-old after he told officials at their dropout prevention school that one of them had tried to sell him drugs.

Snitches get stitches.

Not that I encourage this, but if you go out and try to get someone in trouble, sent to jail, foster care, away from their family, etc...how do you not expect this to happen? If you try to take someone's freedom away, this is what happens next time they see you. Of course they shouldn't be selling drugs, and I'm not saying he should have kept it to himself either, just saying when you put the two together, and then you cross paths, this happens.

Also, I'm sorry but the beating is not that brutal. I got jumped a few times in high school by grown ass manchilds, and one of the times was almost the same thing, a teacher saw it happen and just watched until the beating stopped, and then came to my aid and took me to the office. I didn't expect him to step in and potentially face a lawsuit from the kids' parents, and didn't expect this bus driver to, either.
 
FUCK the police hard.

Had he intervened and anything went sideways, the police would be the first to lay blame on him. Not to mention he'd be open to lawsuits, and it's likely against his company's policies.
 
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