Seven middle schoolers accused of beating girl unconscious on school bus

[The Straight Story]

Seven middle schoolers accused of beating girl unconscious on school bus

Seven teenagers were arrested after Marion County authorities said they punched and kicked a 13-year-old until she was unconscious while on a school bus.

The victim told authorities that Friday was her first time riding the bus, and no one would let her sit down. About 75 children were riding the bus bound for a middle school in Ocala. The victim said someone threw a shoe at her and she threw one back, according to an arrest report.

One girl allegedly asked students whether they wanted to hit the victim, then instructed the teens to form a circle and began hitting and kicking the victim. Several witnesses said they saw the girl fall to the floor and "appear to have a seizure and pass out," according to the arrest report.

The victim, who is not being identified, was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with a concussion, severe bruising on her head and muscle spasms.

Seven teens, ranging in age from 12 to 15, were charged with battery and disorderly conduct. The Associated Press is not identifying the suspects because they are minors.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/crime/os-students-beat-girl-charges-20120107,0,2735284.story

[Angry Dragon]

1. sick kids

[RKP5637]

2. Damn stuff like this is pathetic and sad, what's worse, it's getting to

be just another American day. Around here, for example, if there aren't several murders a night in the city, it's not been a typical night.

[Mojorabbit]

3. This kind of thing really creeps me out. It seems we are hearing about more

and more instances of this kind of behavior in young children.

[southernyankeebelle]

7. Where was the bus driver? Why didn't they stop the bus? This is why I don't put my grandkids on

a bus. Something has to be done. Its time they put extra adults on buses.

[csziggy]

26. He did what he could

From the story at the OP link:
"The school's bus driver said he saw the fight and pulled over the bus to intervene. The fighting ceased, so he continued driving, but he told authorities the fight broke out again and he couldn't control it, so he drove to a nearby school and called officials."

[southernyankeebelle]

28. You would think they had some kind of system to call back at the school shack. Maybe they should

require the bus drivers to have cellphones. He shouldn't have gotten that far.

[csziggy]

38. I do think you are right - there needs to be another adult on the bus

It's hard enough for a driver to concentrate with just another couple of adult passengers. For a driver to have to monitor a bus full of minors AND concentrate is a safety hazard. And with discipline problems today there needs to be someone to watch the kids to make sure this kind of incident doesn't happen!

The bus driver did call in but if another adult had been in the bus, they could have called without having to wait until the bus was pulled off the road.

[southernyankeebelle]

41. I hope some parent makes that suggestion.

[Eddie Haskell]

42. Why should the school be responsible?

It's a matter for the police and they should hold the parents responsible for their kids behavior. I'm so fucking tired of people trying to make the schools responsible for behavior.

[obamanut2012]

43. Agreed

It is ALWAYS the school's or teacher's responsibility or fault.

[MH1]

46. The bus driver should have called the police.

But apparently he didn't have a working cell phone or any other way to contact the police or school officials.

If the bus crashed and the girl was hurt due to a maintenance problem, it would be the school's responsibility, right? (or the bus company. Often the buses and drivers are contractors, if I understand correctly.)

Part of the safety protocol for operating the bus should be what to do if a situation among riders gets out of hand. That goes for public transportation as well as school transportation. Any entity operating a bus without such protocol is operating unsafely, just as if they were behind on maintenance.

That said, I'm all in favor of parents being explicitly punished in some way when their kid physically attacks and harms another kid. But, that has to be part of world where people are allowed to choose to NOT be parents ... and respected rather than stigmatized for the choice.

[southernyankeebelle]

50. Yes your right. Feel the same way when the school monitors what kids say on their home

computers while they are watching them. Guess that is alright

[Ecumenist]

30. That's what I want to know....

How the fuck could this happen on a school bus and the driver not notice?

[MH1]

47. The driver noticed. It's in the article.

He just wasn't prepared to deal with the situation in an effective and timely manner.

[DURHAM D]

4. On a related note -

Why Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Makes Kids Into Bullies


http://www.alternet.org/sex/153683/why_abstinence-only_sex_ed_makes_kids_into_bullies/




http://www.democraticunderground.com/10165716

[seabeyond]

6. the environments that allow abstinence are also conducive to gender roles. gender roles is the issue

sex ed does not teach bullying. the environments that adopt abstinence are places when patriarchy is the strongest. THAT creates the bullies

[DURHAM D]

13. Feels like you are lecturing me.

Did you read the article?

[seabeyond]

15. i live in a fundamentalist area that teaches abstinence. i think it is a silly, shallow, weak

correlation, even provided in the article.

what else has happened in those 6 years. people are more financially stressed, more single parenting leaving less time for parenting, more lower income, an aggressive national pressure on the macho man and roles played, aggressive wars, dividing line of right and left, internet with the defined gender roles, entertainment hyping the gender roles more than ever

out of all the ills of society today, abstinence is the least of what these kids get that would point to increase in bullying.

i post my opinion. if you feel it is lecturing, there is not a whole lot i can do about that. i really dont get what you want from me.

[DURHAM D]

16. Your attitude is offensive.

Go beat a pillow.

[seabeyond]

19. because i do not agree with you? beat a pillow? nt

[DURHAM D]

21. I made no comment.

But because you are such a hothead you are not aware of that. I just posted an article from a little earlier in the day that I thought was interesting and related but given that you are apparently all knowing and all seeing (in other words blind) you can't even figure out such basic facts.

Please post all of your scholarly work on the subject of causes of bullying.

[seabeyond]

25. you posted an article i disagreed with. i stated i disagreed with it. i clarified further how i

disagree. you havent addressed any of the issues i put forth. but you have talked about me an awful lot.

again i say to you, i am not sure what it is you are wanting from me.

[idahoblue]

27. There are those

Who do not know the difference between a posted article and the opinion of the poster. I get tongue lashed every time I post. Just ignore those who cannot have a discussion.

[seabeyond]

34. is no one allow to address the article being posted? really? i say i disagree. tongue lashing? nt

[Ecumenist]

32. I agree with what you're saying

I think that the increase in violence at all levels of society are interrelated and the correlation between the bullying, increasing levels of hopelessness and increasing levels of domestic ills are clear.

[seabeyond]

35. i read that article in the original OP and thought it silly at the least

i am not into abstinence courses. but lets be real. thank you, i agree with you post.

[moriah]

9. I was a female targeted by female bullies long before ANY of us had our periods.

So gender roles aren't the end-all be-all. Except maybe that the guys didn't participate in beating me up and left it to the girls to do the job.

I had two concussions and a shattered ulna in 4th grade alone from the bitches.

[Ecumenist]

33. OMG, I'm so sorry, Moriah.

[RainDog]

36. omg

that's horrid.

however, yes, the truth is that a lot of females engage in bullying - they usually do it w/o physical violence, however. Females traditionally rely on ridicule and trying to create "in" and "out" groups and one or two will try to bring all the lemmings along.

I totally understand why you would call those girls bitches - some deserve the label.

[duhneece]

29. I just shared this on facebook

Really interesting.

[Initech]

5. WTF. A sick society we live in which shit like this happens.

[southernyankeebelle]

8. Your right. Something has to be done. This behavior is unexceptable. I want to know what is wrong

with FL? Some crazy shit happens there.

[seabeyond]

10. the nation. and imo, it is parents not parenting. that simple. nt

[southernyankeebelle]

18. I can't disagree with you.

[Initech]

11. Totally unacceptable. But it's not just Florida.

I agree with that article about abstinenance only education being responsible for a rise in bullying. This is more failure from the worst president ever.

[southernyankeebelle]

17. Your right but lately it seem everything bad that is happening to children is in FL.

[Initech]

24. True.

[demosincebirth]

23. It's not only Florida, it can happen anywhere in this country. I blame the permisiveness of

our society going back 25 years or more. Things like this didn't happen back when I was growing up. If you would get in a fight it would be one on one and it ended when you knocked your oponent down... then maybe a kick in the butt, and that was it. Now, it's like a pack of animals attacking an intruder. I know some here will see it completely different and blame everything else in society to excuse this behavior. Kids learn this pack behavior by what they see and hear around them. When kids see it enough it becomes a normal behavior to them. Maybe someone else can enlighten me and please don't blame the schools or the govenment because they certainly don't teach this behavior.

[Little Star]

12. I hope the parents of that child sue the pants off the school, bus company and bullies parents!...

This shit has got to stop!!

[Eddie Haskell]

45. What's the school have to do with it?

The school doesn't have the money to place someone on the bus. You're blaming the school for bad parenting. If these kids can't be trusted to behave on a bus, let their parents provide transportation. The schools have enough problems trying to teach these monsters. Try teaching an emotional support class and dealing with daily physical abuse because the law protects the monster, while stripping the teacher of all rights.

[Jean V. Dubois]

14. For those lamenting what a sick society we now live in...

I would point out that this sort of behavior by children is nothing new. On the contrary, children (and adults, for that matter) have been acting like this for thousands of years.

[ornotna]

20. I rode the bus to school for seven straight years

And not once did I witness or engage in beating a fellow student unconscious. Yes, bullying has been around a long time, but I don't recall it being as extreme as it is today.

[Jean V. Dubois]

22. I was speaking of an historical context of *thousands* of years, not dozens.

While the example in question is fairly extreme in the 21st Century United States, many comparable contemporary examples can be found, with similar examples throughout all of history.

[REP]

40. Salem witch trials are a good examples of bullying by a pack of teen girls.

[tblue37]

39. _Lord of the Flies_. nt

[Jean V. Dubois]

48. Heinlein's "Tunnel in the Sky" is something of a refutation of "Lord of the Flies".

Well worth reading.

[getdown]

31. Why do you put up these ugly stories?

[obamanut2012]

44. What's wrong with this story?

[Odin2005]

37. Oh dear, a friend of mine used to teach in an Ocala middle school!

If that is the one she taught at she likely knew some of those students. Good lord!

She left because of sexual harassment by the principle.

[ensho]

49. there is a lot of hate in that area of Fl. and religious insanity

could the bus driver been afraid of the students - or their parents?

in that area of Fl. its a possibility.