Guilfort Florida police arrested three 15-year-old boys with aggravated battery charges for beating up a younger male on a Lealman Intermediate School summer school bus, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
John Moody, the 64-year-old Pinellas County school bus driver who had watched the boy being kicked and stomped about 23 times, will not face negligence charges after he stopped the bus and called for help. Authorities had initially sought a child neglect charge against him, but it was reversed.
"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," Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent told WFLA.
"Me jumping in the middle of that fight with three boys, it would have been more dangerous for other students on the bus for as myself," Moody said. "There's just no telling what might have happened."
Moody's attorney said that his client had radioed for help, which is school district policy, and that authorities should never charged him.
"It was preposterous," Moody's attorney Frank McDermott added. "I don't think law enforcement should ever tell citizens to intervene in a violent attack. John did what he was trained to do."
The victim told police he had reported the teens to school officials earlier that day after they tried to sell him drugs, news reports said.
The attack left the victim with two black eyes and a broken arm.
