Students Suspended after Brutal Bus Attack

Illinois Police Back Away From Comments That 17-Year-Old's Beating Racially Motivated

(AP)  A southwestern Illinois school superintendent says two students suspected of attacking a 17-year-old schoolmate on a school bus have been suspended.

Greg Moats cited state privacy laws in declining to say how long the suspensions involving the Belleville West High School students, ages 15 and 14, over Monday's disruptions on the bus would last.

Police initially said the beating of the white student by two black students appeared to be racially motivated. But police on Tuesday backed away from that.

All of it was recorded by a video camera mounted inside the bus.

Moats said school administrators are allowed to suspend students up to 10 days, though longer suspensions and expulsions must be confirmed by the school board.

There's no immediate word on charges.

On "The Early Show Wednesday, co-anchor Harry Smith interviewed Moats and Steve Raines, a student who helped stop one of the attacks:


Watch CBS Videos Online

[kennyboyee]

Belleview bus attack provides a teachable moment about race.

54 years ago a black woman was refused a seat on a city bus, and the resulting outcry engendered the modern civil rights movement.

7 days ago a white boy was savagely beaten by two blacks on a city bus, while a pack of other blacks cheered the attackers on. The resulting outcry was?.zero.

The local police initially pronounced the attack as a hate crime, but for reasons unknown the assault was downgraded to mere ?bullying?.

Can anyone tell me with a straight face that if the races were reversed and the assailants were a gang of whites, and the victim was a sole black boy, that this would be called just ?bullying??

If in fact the races were reversed, you can bet your life that race profiteers would descend on Belleview, making emotional oratory on the steps of City Hall, and holding out their hand to extort (monetary) pounds of flesh from local government, the bus company, and any other deep pocket that they could wriggle into.

An all too willing media would facilitate the heist by broadcasting the beating video over and over, and booking race profiteers for prime time slots to remind America that racism runs rampant here.

And in the background is our post-racial president who promised to transcend race. Belleview comes on the heels of his reflexively blaming the white officer in Cambridge, while defending the race bating black suspect (his friend). The president's judgment passed before he had the facts. At the same time our highest ranking democrat leaders are pronouncing us all racists for disagreeing with the President. The great racial healer missed another sista soulja moment by remaining silent and voting ?present? yet again on Belleview.

Because this savage beating was delivered by blacks against a white boy, America is silent.

We?ve come a long way baby.

[sandboxfires]

***** in comment above = assess.

[sandboxfires]

What I find incredibly disturbing and sad about this situation is that not only did no one step in to break it up really, but the bus driver literally did nothing to prevent any more recurring physical abuse by the kids attacking this student on the duration of the ride, or at least the video clip. While I don't know what was said in provocation, I still think it was excessive. Typical behavior of someone who simply can't settle something diplomatically and intelligently. And judging by the stupid polo shirt he was wearing to compensate for his lack of intellect and clear inability to adequately ***** his situation, I'm sure he'll have plenty of excuses and justifications for his actions, similar to the ones he had for making a horrible decision to purchase that shirt. The kid he assaulted probably bumped him a wrinkled it. We all know basketball players don't like wrinkles in their seemingly educated appearing polo shirts.

[mdknightbabe]

First of all. No violence on the bus whatsoever. We should have ZERO tolerance of this crap. You throw your fist? You don't ride a bus ever again (make a law that you cause violence on the bus? You get fined and punished for your violence. I promise you, you will see kids think twice before they make a swing!) Simple. I don't care what excuse they have how they need to ride the bus to get to school. I would apply the same discipline to my own kid. It's the parent's responsibility ultimately. I blame parenting (or the lack thereof) on a lot of the trouble kids we have in today's society (ALL RACES). Second? Fire that bus driver's ass! ZERO tolerance for allowing abuse to take place on your ride. Maybe it will make other driver's think twice before condoning such action on their ride. If the bus caught on fire? Would the driver still give the same excuse? I don't think so. This is the same crisis. Black is black...white is white. Something like this could have caused a death. End of story. Simple, folks. Nip this in the bud.

[qwiggels]

Ok, the poor child that was being assaulted was merely doing what the school system has required of them and that is Zero Tolerance for violence. That policy applies even if you are innocent and are only trying to defend yourself. That is and was most assuredly a Hate crime and proper charges are expected. Why is there not more about this in the media? I guess Rush is right again, the government is now CONTROLLING our news. Thank you CBS for having the honesty to at least bring it to our attention. Rest assured, if the race of the attackers and victim were reversed, this would be a HOT national topic and marches would have already been organized demanding some justice.

[tejana3333]

I am truly appauled at what these bullies did. BLACK OR WHITE, no one deserves to get beaten like that. I hope that 17 year old files charges and these kids are punished to the fullest extent of the law,first go to the DA's Office and get a protective order and these kids will have to stay away, then press charges and these kids will be put on probation and under probation will have curfew, have to report to their PO and have to do community service. Also, who in the hell are their parents, I would be so emabarrassed if I had kids who were bullies. Parents love your kids and teach them to respect and to stick up for others !!!

[gosstom]

You can take the Monkey out of the Jungle but you can't take the Jungle out of the Monkey.

[threefromil]

And unfortunately, you can't take the idiot comments like yours out of the blog. What in your genetic make up caused the idiocy?

[fedupwithracists]

Very well put.

[XXraeXraeXX]

Ok....uhmmmm Dhis white boi culd have started **** wit dha black dudez earlier in dhee year.
And book whooope.......ppl faught on a bus...no biggie.
PPl do dhat **** all dhee time.
Bhut anTeewayz.
Dhis shuld not beh on dhee news.....and dhese kidz shuldnt beh goin to no juvy.
****.
Git real.

[fedupwithracists]

Once again,blogs like the one you've posted is the reason this mess still exists.Why do you all keep throwing Obama in everything that goes on.This man is just that,a man;he is not GOD and cannot control what you and no one else does with their lives.Only a racist would do the things you do.Now you want to get angry because someone calls you a racist;yet that's all you seem to talk about amongst your buddies and while hiding behind these blogs.Wake up people.If Bush had gotten this much heat,the world wouldn't be in the predicament it's in TODAY!You do the math.Wake up!Live life for the better; not the worse.

[fedupwithracists]

It's pitiful that you didn't understand the stats that the F.B.I.posted,yet,in your own ragedy way you made yourself understand it in black and white form.Please go back to school clown!

[mandjwinn3]

Thrash is thrash!!! Need I say more? He is a punk kid who thinks he is somebody. NOT!!! Maybe someone should teach that loser a lesson.

[Nebraskagirl]

I don't understand how school systems get away with having just one adult on a school bus. Most churches and character building programs (scouts) have what they call "Safe From Harm" policies which mandate that at least 2 adults always be present in the company of minors. A driver has enough to do with driving the bus, there should be another adult on the bus to act as a monitor. How many times does this type of incident have to happen before something is done to make sure it can't happen? We've got a lot of unemployed people looking for work let's let go of some of that money for non-esentials like football and protect our kids and give some folks useful employment.

[threefromil]

It's the money. My daughter is a new teacher in Chicago, and the school has already by the first week run out of money for the copier. She has to buy schoolbooks for the kids, they only give her one. She says most teachers there spend $1000 to $2000 of their own money on supplies.

They don't have money for a second person on buses. Arm the buses with a system where the driver can call for help from the police, and put their butts in jail.

[Nebraskagirl]

to BrianBWB:
I was a student in a large urban school district also in the 60's.
I have a similar story to yours. Except, I am white female and was in a nearly all black school. I had some wonderful black friends but there were the kids who were black who if given the chance, knew they could get the weaker kids. I was one of the weaker kids, I was not a fighter. I was a pleaser. So they knew I wouldn't fight back. I got called names, there were racial slurs and threats in little rhymes that I still remember to this day. I got rocks thrown, hair pulled, punched. There was always the intimidation that was used. Was I beat up because I was weak, white or both? In those days we did not ride school buses we walked to and from school. No protection if you walked alone which I did as the only child attending school at that time in my family. Father at work mother at home with younger siblings. Here's my point, I get so tired to hearing about all the black kids that got harrassed,pick on beat up in the white schools when just as many white kids got harrassed, picked on and beat up in the black schools, but no one wants to hear those stories.

3 cheers to the brave young man that dared to take a stand, to be set apart from the crowd and risking his own reputation to stand up for the right and bringing a stop to the senseless violence taking place on that bus.

[threefromil]

My other, younger son was bullied from the minute we moved in a new upper middle class white subdivision. He was your typical skinny, short, quiet victim of bullies.

At the park, he was pushed down the hill, had a double spiral fracture of the upper thigh. They left him for a half hour in freezing snow, where an adult found him. Spent a month in traction, 4 months out of school, used a wheelchair and walker and had pain for over a year.

Amazing to me was the adults harrassing him. Kids tried to 'hit his bad leg' with a bat, their parents never disciplined them. I never was threatened in Chicago, only in this suburb. We had to eventually put him in a private school, cost us $20,000. Permanently affected him for life as well.

Should be mandatory classes to prevent bullying.

[bongochick]

I'm a parent of a child at Belleville West. They, fortunately, were not on that bus. But I have to say, the racial tension is here. If you knew the history of this area with the white and black people you would understand the depth why the tension is so bad. Belleville used to be a real clean, safe, know your neighbors kind of town but as people move here from East St. Louis, they are bringing a bad influence of people here. I can't blame them for wanting to leave East St. Louis, but raise the standard of how your children should treat others! We didn't elect a black President because he was a gang banger or a thug and bullied his way to the Presidency! Learn from the leaders who have come before you to make this a better country for both black and white. Wake UP! That goes for all of us!

[threefromil]

My son in high school grabbed a new kid by the coat and ripped it. I took him to the boy's apartment. I offered to the mother that my son would pay for a tailor to fix the coat, or she could have the new expensive Starter jacket my son had just bought with his own money.

The mother said she was struggling after a recent divorce and the coat was a present from her parents. She said it was ok to have it repaired.

The problem is when the parents don't make kids accountable. The kids in my upper middle class white town have alot of bullying issues, and the parents are all of the 'not my kid' type. So we have roaming bands of out of control teens.

[threefromil]

I forgot to mention, I also had him apologize and discussed the issue.

[threefromil]

There was one boy bullied all the time by everyone at my high school. (white boy, white school). He went straight from high school to the mental institution, where he is to this day. Bullying should be something schools give classes in to prevent.

[getreal11]

the only thing the white kid was doing was being white and look for a seat on the bus with a bunch of animal on board. yea it was racial..no stopped him..oh look lets bet the crap out the white kids..
wonder why no one whats to live with you.

[mafoster121]

Speake ENGLISH