Driver says he did all he could during Florida school bus beating

[Karee 4,191]

CNN) -- The windmilling fists and stomping feet rain down blows on the 13-year-old boy.

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.

The bus driver, at least according to his school's policy, did nothing wrong.

'Get somebody here quick'

The attack took place July 9 in Pinellas County, Florida. But the horrific cell phone video -- and the surveillance video -- came out only recently.

As the boy is pummeled, the bus driver John Moody yells at the assailants to leave the boy alone.

He also asks dispatchers to send 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."

Moody, 64, says he was too afraid to step in.

"The three boys just jumped on him and started pounding on him. And I did all can," he told CNN affiliate WFLA. "I was looking. It was like I was in shock. I was petrified."

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Not required to intervene

The ferocity of the attack left the 13-year-old with two black eyes and a broken arm.

"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," Chief Robert Vincent of Gulfport Police Department told the affiliate.

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.

Other counties actually forbid drivers from physically stopping fights.

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No basis for charges

Prosecutors say they have no grounds on which to charge him.

"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.

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.

Outrageous moments caught on camera

'I wanted to help him'

The three 15-year-old boys have been arrested on aggravated assault charges.

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.

Moody, who retired two weeks after the attack, says he's still haunted by it and has had sleepless nights.

"I wanted to help him so bad," he said. "I wanted to help him."

Video:

Source:

http://us.cnn.com/2013/08/05/justice/florida-school-bus-beating/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I just read this on CNN. Something is wrong with kids today.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Time to start arming school bus drivers.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Time to start arming school bus drivers.

Cut out the middle man, just arm the kids.

[Teddy B 17,252]

3 Black boys beating one white boy and a black bus driver who refuses to step in, and not one mention of race by anyone. I have a feeling if the races were reversed, things would be very different.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Teddy B

[Karee 4,191]

3 Black boys beating one white boy and a black bus driver who refuses to step in, and not one mention of race by anyone. I have a feeling if the races were reversed, things would be very different.

I wasn't going to mention that.

[Teddy B 17,252]

I wasn't going to mention that.

Why should you? It's only racism when the white folks are in the wrong. White's cannot be the victim of a hate crime.

[Karee 4,191]

Why should you? It's only racism when the white folks are in the wrong. White's cannot be the victim of a hate crime.

Unless you're a white homosexual.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I look forward to the day when people stop bringing up race, whether it's sincerely or sarcastically. So tired.

[SMOKE 1,426]

I just read this on CNN. Something is wrong with kids today.

there is something wrong with kids today?

no. there is something wrong with three black hood rat pos punks kicking the sh!t out of a small white kid that wasn't doing a damn thing to them, a black bus driver not doing anything to stop it, and you avoiding the obvious & fitting hate crime label that delongs attached to this thread title.

[Karee 4,191]

I look forward to the day when people stop bringing up race, whether it's sincerely or sarcastically. So tired.

[Teddy B 17,252]

I look forward to the day when people stop bringing up race, whether it's sincerely or sarcastically. So tired.

I look forward to that day too, even though I just did it.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

3 Black boys beating one white boy and a black bus driver who refuses to step in, and not one mention of race by anyone. I have a feeling if the races were reversed, things would be very different.

You know it would be different. The white kids would only be beating the black kid because he was black. In this case I'm sure the white kid deserved it and it had nothing to do with race.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

there is something wrong with kids today?

no. there is something wrong with three black hood rat pos punks kicking the sh!t out of a small white kid that wasn't doing a damn thing to them, a black bus driver not doing anything to stop it, and you avoiding the obvious & fitting hate crime label that delongs attached to this thread title.

Ok, first of all I can't see the race of kids since I am at work and we can't look at the video, all I can see is the text which says nothing about the race. Second, they didn't beat him up because he was white, they beat him up because he said the one kids tried to sell him drugs. If you're going to have this talk with me, come correct or stay home.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I can't watch the video either. They beat him up because he said they tried to sell him drugs?