A violent attack on a Belleville West school bus led to at least seven suspensions Tuesday as Belleville Police said they no longer believed the attacks were racially motivated.
"It's not necessarily race-related," Belleville Police Capt. Don Sax said of the attack caught on a school bus security camera that shows two black students punching and choking a white student Monday morning. "It's just bullying and that's where it is."
The 14- and 15-year-old students seen attacking another student were suspended and face the possibility of expulsion and juvenile criminal charges. They were released to their parents.
One student, Steve Raines, is seen in the video preventing a third attack on the victim.
"He was getting beat and he wasn't even defending himself, so I felt like I had to help stop it," Steve said.
At least five students in addition to the attackers were suspended for their behavior on the bus, said one of those students, D'Vante Lott, 16, a junior. He said he and four other students called into the office at the same time were all suspended, he for five days beginning Wednesday. He said others on the bus were called in by administrators but he did not know their fates.
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