Posted on 09/18/2009 12:45:13 AM PDT by Route797
BELLEVILLE, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - Parents in the Belleville School district descended upon the school board meeting Wednesday looking for answers. They want to know why two students beat a third kid on a school bus bound for Belleville West High School Monday, and they want to know what the district is doing to prevent it from happening again.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox2now.com ...
Four minutes after the first attack, a second boy began punching the same victim. That is when Raines stepped in. He came from his seat a few rows back and physically held the attacker back. Twice.
"I was like just chill out, chill out, chill out," he says. "I was like I don't know why you're messing with the dude because you know he's not going to do anything back. I was like quit. You have no reason to keep attacking him, so we need to chill out."
It's nice to know that there was one young man who stood up and did the right thing. Maybe he didn't react as forcefully as he could have, and maybe he could have acted sooner, but it's easy for an adult, from the safety of his keyboard, to be critical of the actions of a teenager in such a situation. Steve Raines is still a hero in my book. I hope his good deed is not unrewarded.
Other than that this story is disturbing in the extreme. What is our nation coming to?
“What is our nation coming to? “
A socialist heaven, nirvana even.
Is this real or just clean up testimony?
I deal with public schools...it’s hard to tell.
I have an answer. The bus driver was afraid to stop the beating for fear of being sued by one or both of the thugs’ parents.
Now let's all go shout at Goldstein for two minuets.
Video says 4 mothers showed up to question the school board. Wow, the whole community is up in arms! Kudos to the moms that did show up. Father of one of the beaters is making excuses for his thug. Disgusting. At the end of this the perps will be the victims.
What a wimp.
“The bus driver was afraid to stop the beating for fear of being sued by one or both of the thugs’ parents.”
Could be, its my guess he didn’t even notice what was happening. All he heard was yelling which is probably fairly common.
Ought to be a way to cast that whole family out of the system.
The bus driver was fired, supposedly for not breaking up the fight.
That doesn’t mean he knew they were beating this kid. All he knew was they were yelling.
Hopefully he’s keeping his eyes on the road and not watching the kids the whole time.
One of the boys who admits he was laughing is D’Vante Lott, who says he is now suspended from school for his actions, “Every kid in high school will laugh. If you see a fight, every kid will laugh,” he says. “It's like adrenaline. We laugh when we see a kid getting beaten up.”
Lott's mother, Shenico Greer, says she was disgusted by what happened to the victim. She says she does not condone her son's laughter, but believes he should not be suspended.
“Everybody on that bus was mostly laughing and standing up,” she says. “I was disgusted. I had a long talk with him. Clearly it was wrong.”
(snip)
Monday afternoon Belleville Police said they suspected the attack was racially motivated, the victim is white. The suspects are 14 and 15 year old African American boys. Tuesday, police did not return repeated phone calls from Fox 2 but they told Belleville News Democrat reporters race was not a factor. They said it was a case of bullying.
A post-racial one, at that.
What's your problem with this?
“They said it was a case of bullying. “
Yes, bullying on account of race.
Ummm...it says the driver could be heard over the radio reporting a fight. I don't know how much clearer it can get.
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Well that's just a sublime and beautiful image.
Not a hate crime. Oh those love crimes.
choices, drive or break up the fight. perhaps he shoulda stopped the bus in the middle of some intersection.
So concerned about ONE kid standing, but the bus goes right on while most of them are up on their feet during this fight. This wasn’t a 10 second affair and all was over. There was time to move to the curb.
Yes he should have tried to stop the fight, but the problem wasn’t the driver.
The problem was the thugs who were doing the beating. I’d throw in the other kids who urged them on as well.
There were many morally responsible people on that bus.
And some who weren’t. Like the father of Beater #1 who apparently taught his kid that an insult to a piece of property should be answered with mayhem.
and some who weren’t
although I remember as a kid watching others fight. a kid got beat up. If he hadn’t been taught not to stand up for himself it probably would not have escalated.
Kids cannot defend themselves in public schools. If they are attacked and try to defend themselves they will be punished the same as the attacker.
Where he stopped the bus wasn’t the topic of discussion. You inferred the driver may not have known there was a fight onboard his bus. I proved to you he did.
If the white kid had tried more than blocking moves, he would have gladly been snapped up by the “zero tolerance” monster that knows nothing of natural justice.
Well good for you. His job is to drive the bus. Stop making this about the bus driver.
blocking moves aren’t even allowed in the local public schools.
Posting this is racist; anyone who doesn’t ignore this story is racist; ... is racist; blah blah blah
/s
Where’s the “THAT’S RACIST” kid?
I wish I knew how to put that up; I’ve seen someone put up a variation on it, where some Oriental kid is saying “That’s wacist”...
Hey, shut up and put some ice on it. </s>
Disagree with a lying politician, and it's racial hatred. Your kid gets beaten, it's "just bullying."
I have to mention, when you invoke imagry such as that, you give fodder to those who would accuse us of being racist.
The proper response would be to first ask the kids why they did it, and then beat their butts until they couldn't sit down for a week. As this is a punishment that most kids would benifit from having at least once in their lives, it doesn't make it an issue of race.
Only if they are whitey.
So let me get this straight. Black parents are descending on the administration to make sure NO more unruly white victims are allowed on the buses with their black angels? That about right? Sarcasm off!
Rosa Parks would be so proud . . .
The black community laments that so many of their men are in prison. The fail to take action when they behave like this. In fact, they hold up the behavior as a badge of honor...you gotta keep it real.....well, they can keep it real....behind bars. As long as they embrace these values, they will never overcome the prejudice that others hold towards them.
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