darkhaven63 said:
I would contribute to this thread with this article from STLToday (ps: it's rather lenthy) :
A student on a Belleville West High School bus was beaten for his choice of seat, not because he was white, according to a witness and police.
"The incident appears now to be more about a couple of bullies on a bus dictating where people sit," said Belleville Police Capt. Don Sax, who originally said Monday's attack may have been racially motivated.
D'Vante Lott, 16, said he was on the bus and witnessed the attack by the two black students.
The victim walked onto the bus, looking for an open seat, but students kept turning him down, as D'Vante said happened often with this student.
But Monday, the victim apparently tired of asking for a seat, D'Vante said, moved one
student's book-bag off a seat, and just sat down.
The student next to him then started hitting the victim for moving his bag, D'Vante said.
But the second assailant was just trying to act tough, D'Vante said. "The second guy hit him because he wanted to hit him," he said.
D'Vante didn't think the attacks were racially motivated.
"Nobody even knows the kid," D'Vante said. "He's a quiet dude."
"They usually let him sit down," he continued.
Meanwhile, D'Vante said, the bus driver did little. "He kept driving. All he said was 'Sit Down.'"
Later, D'Vante said, the victim tried to take a picture of his face with a phone, but he couldn't get a good picture, so he asked someone else to do it for him.
The school suspended the two attackers for 10 days today, pending an expulsion hearing, and suspended three bystanders, including D'Vante, for five days for laughing at the incident, D'Vante and his mother said the principal told them.
D'Vante's mother, Shenico Greer, was very upset outside Belleville West this afternoon, as she picked up her son.
"He was not in the fight!" Greer said.
"Everybody on that bus, mostly, was laughing and standing up," she said.
She said her son even helped the victim after the attacks, picking up his glasses and asking him if he was OK.
Greer also didn't think the attack was racially motivated.
"There are other white children who sit with black children," she said.
Meanwhile, school and police officials met Tuesday afternoon. Police spokesman Sax said he did not know what came of the meeting.
Police had not this afternoon presented charges for prosecution to the state's attorney's office, Sax said.
Still, several white parents and students said Tuesday afternoon that they felt the incident had to have been racially motivated, and that the school has been struggling with racial tension.
UPDATED, 11:35 a.m. with police captain backtracking on whether attack was racially motivated.
BELLEVILLE -- A Belleville police spokesman now says an incident where a white student was beaten by teen black assailants on a bus “may not be racially motivated.”
“It was premature on my part,” said Belleville Police Capt. Don Sax. “It was my personal and emotional comment after only seeing the video briefly.”
Sax said police interviewed the 17-year-old Belleville West High student. However, he said he was unaware of what the student told police.
Some of the students on the bus yesterday during the incident cheered the beating, the video shows.
Sax said a formal statement would be made available later today.
“After having reviewed the video, it doesn't strike me nearly as racially motivated,” Sax said.
The about-face came this morning as the story made national headlines. Although, Sax said it was purely his review of the video that changed his mind.
Belleville has had a long history of racial turmoil, with a past that includes police harassment of black motorists, cross burnings and discrimination in city hiring.
EARLIER STORY
BELLEVILLE — A Belleville West High School student was beaten aboard a bus on the way to school Monday, and a police spokesman said the beating could be racially motivated.
The 17-year-old victim was white and the teen assailants were black. Police released a video of the beating, which shows the victim being punched repeatedly while other students on the bus gather to watch, some cheering. It doesn't appear that the victim did anything to provoke an attack and tried only to defend himself. Police said it all unfolded in a five-minute span.
The victim was trying to find a seat and was told by two students he could not sit next to them, police said.
As he walked to the seat, someone shouted, "Beat his ass."
When he did sit down, one teen tried to push him out of his seat then began grabbing the victim’s neck and punching him in the face.
With each punch, some in the crowd chanted, "Boom, boom, boom."
The victim eventually returned to his seat, but another student began taunting him a few minutes later. The victim was then struck in the face.
It was unclear what, if anything, the bus driver did to stop the attack. At one point, before the second attack, a man shouts, "Sit down guys."
Students intervened to help the victim both times.
"In my estimation, it's racially motivated," said Capt. Don Sax of the Belleville Police Department. He said one reason he had formed this opinion was that many of the students, most of whom were black, yelled their support for the beating.
"There was absolutely no justification for the beating either time," Sax said.
Two teens were taken into custody; authorities will apply for charges today. Both students have been suspended, said Superintendent Greg Moats.
He also said there had been no racial problems at the school and said that he wanted to talk further with police to determine why they believe race could have been a motivator in the fight. He also said the school will do everything possible to make sure students are safe, but he wouldn't elaborate.
(STLToday)
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