According to authorities, seven Georgia students, some of whom were as young as five, were taken into custody for allegedly assaulting a classmate who was seven years old during an early morning bus journey to school.
The Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that the alleged attackers, who are between the ages of 5 and 14, were charged with battery for the brutal beating that occurred on April 18 while their bus was traveling to Mattie Lively Elementary School in Statesboro.
After examining the surveillance footage of the transport, which showed the unruly bunch banding together to attack the little boy, police said they were alerted of the horrific crime around a week later and were able to identify the troublesome pupils, according to WSAV.
“One child came over the seat and basically used his feet to stomp on this 7-year-old,” Captain Todd Hutchens told the outlet, adding that it was a “violent attack.”
“Five-year-olds know right from wrong. They hold responsibility just like an adult, just like a 14-year-old. They know better than to start jumping on a child and striking that child with a hand or a first or a book or those types of things.”
According to release, the student only sustained minor bruises from the attack.
When authorities learned that the 70-year-old bus driver, Joey Edwin Jackson, had neglected to stop the violent outburst, stop the bus, or notify the school district of the event, he was also taken into custody.
“The bus driver did not pull over,” Hutchens said according to the outlet.
“The bus driver did not call the bus garage to say, ‘Hey I got an incident on the bus, please send help.’ He continued to drive to the school.”
According to authorities, Jackson was dismissed from his job and charged with second-degree cruelty to minors and failing to report child abuse.
According to jail records, he was arrested on April 30 at Bulloch County Jail and freed the next day after putting up a $15,000 bond.
According to the authorities, the seven unruly students were also expelled from their schools.
Juvenile court will hear their cases.
