Cops: 3 Teens Viciously Beat 14-Year-Old On Bus (Thought he was gay)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CBS New York

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBS 2 / 1010 WINS/ WCBS 880) – Nassau County Police said a local teen was savagely beaten on a Long Island school bus, in what’s being called a bias attack.

Three other teens were arrested on Thursday. They’re accused of stomping and kicking the boy, and making sexual slurs, because they perceived him to be gay, reports CBS 2’s Jennifer McLogan.

Police said it was inside a school bus where anti-gay slurs, taunting and bullying began, and added the lawless behavior went on for weeks. Investigators said the alleged victim from BOCES career prep admitted he didn’t have the courage to complain — fearing retaliation, but when the taunts turned physical the victim finally came forward.

-----

The trio allegedly stomped on the victim’s arms, legs, stomach and thigh, while making disparaging remarks about his sexual orientation.



Read more: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/14/cops-l-i-teens-accused-of-attacking-boy-on-bus/

[msongs]

1. evidently this bus did not have a driver nt

[DeSwiss]

2. +1

[donco6]

3. They reported it immediately.

But yeah, let's blame the driver.

[ThomCat]

12. It went on for weeks as verbal bullying, and only got reported

when it turned into violent bullying that couldn't be ignored anymore. :(

Where were the reports after the First incident? Or the Second? Or any of the others before it became so violent?

[donco6]

13. It didn't say that first part was on the bus - but I suppose it could have been.

He did say he was too scared to report it to anyone.

I have about 40 bus drivers and I just can't imagine any one of them standing by while a kid got bullied. So I guess it's hard to think they would let it go in other places, but maybe they do . . . :(

[No Elephants]

22. Yes, it did say that the bullying began on the bus.

"Police said it was inside a school bus where anti-gay slurs, taunting and bullying began, and added the lawless behavior went on for weeks."

[donco6]

50. You're right - I read it wrong.

Sad.

[Taverner]

4. Jesus FUCK!?!?!?!

Was it this bad when I was a kid in the 80's?

I don't remember...

[harmonicon]

20. probably

I don't remember anyone getting beaten up specifically for being gay, but I remember kids getting punched and kicked, etc. on the bus in the 80's. I guess on my bus we missed those specific kind of assholes, but I'm sure it was happening other places. I certainly got bullied on the bus for being a "weirdo" or whatever.

[Lucky Luciano]

5. I don't ever remember thinking anyone was gay when I was in HS or middle school?!

I am sure they existed, but I was unaware. I guess the kids were well closeted, because someone must have been. There were a couple I could have guessed were, but I never thought about it.

[ThomCat]

14. That was part of the problem. Everyone in my HS say that they never thought

anyone was gay there either, even though several of us were bullied constantly and called gay, homo, queer, and fag.

That kind of a disconnect really bothers me. How can people believe that nobody was gay, while this kind of bullying was going on and while so many people participated in it, laughed about it, participated in ostracizing people, and heard and spread rumors? How could anyone really claim that they were totally unaware of all of that, while being part of the social circles of the high school?

All I can figure is that being a well adjusted part of those social circles meant participating in the bad stuff, and then forgetting the bad stuff. Because anyone who wasn't targeted, and wasn't a victim of the bad stuff has that privilege of forgetting.

To this day, people in my graduating class still insist that there was nobody gay in our high school. People have argued with me that something after high school must have "turned people gay."

[Lucky Luciano]

34. I don't recall there being any bullying either. nt

[grace0418]

53. The privilege of forgetting.

I know that ThomCat. I wasn't bullied for being gay but for the unforgivable sin of being smart, dorky, chubby and unfashionable.

I remember a girl from my graduating class trying to convince me to attend the 20th reunion a few years back. She went on and on about how great everyone was and how all the petty stuff just melted away and everyone just enjoyed each other's company. I thought to myself "You were popular. The petty stuff you 'endured' were little tifs about someone wearing the same outfit as you. You weren't taunted endlessly on the bus. You didn't have rocks thrown at you. You didn't have people snickering behind your back everywhere you went. Thanks but I have no desire to relive those memories with all those 'great' people."

The privilege of forgetting is such an apt description.

[shanti]

49. at my son's middle school

being gay/bi was the big thing! (this was in 2002-2004 here in nor cal). i remember my son telling me about it. nobody was beat down for it, quite the contrary. in fact, at one of his hs homecomings, a gay guy won homecoming king and nobody batted an eye.

what is going on??

[MrSlayer]

6. Christ, it's becoming an epidemic.

Either that or it's finally coming out in the open. Horrible.

[ThomCat]

15. It has always been an epidemic.

It is now just the issue of the hour that reporters want to see and report about.

In a few weeks our LGBT kids will probably be invisible again, and the bullying will still be happening. :(

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ThomCat]

21. Don't you dare condescend. I AM one of those civil rights activists!

And so are a number of other people here, past and present! :grr:

Who the hell do you think you are, talking down to us if we we don't fight for civil rights?

What wisdom do you have to share if you're so blind that you think all we do is write letters and complain?

"those who actually fought.." My Ass! x(

[No Elephants]

"you people?"

[No Elephants]

"you people?"

[No Elephants]

23. "you people?"

[Bluebear]

27. What an arrogant piece of work you are. nt

[Sweet Charming Dem]

32. Excuse me, but I know I've fought for my rights, and judging by Thom's posts, so has he

So spare us the "you people" lecture.

[Renew Deal]

7. BOCES is where a lot of problem kids are sent.

It's "vocational" training which often takes the kids completely out of a normal classroom.

[Javaman]

43. Boy, do I know...

My dad taught at BOCES in the 70's and 80's for years.

The worst of the worst go there.

My dad taught auto mechanics, many of his students were first time offenders. My dad was very instrumental in developing a "reform" program.

He would come home with these unbelievable stories of knife fights. The year he retired completely (he taught part time for years after "official" retirement), some kid brought in a pistol to "even the score" as he later stated. Luckily, no one was hurt and, thankfully, it wasn't in my dad's class.

On edit: oh I almost forgot, there was a special area in BOCES for the total nuts, it's been a few years, but I believe it was call CDD or CCD. I forget, my dad would teach those kids from time to time. Not blowing my dad's horn, but he grew up in a very tough neighborhood of east NYC. As such, he took no BS from anyone, including the kids, which is why I believe he was chosen to "teach" those kids. He said, it basically amounted to making sure they didn't kill each other.

A small story from my dad: one day, while showing the kids how to do a valve job (usually over the course of a few weeks), they were pulling the head off. One kid, didn't like how this other kid was looking at him, out of the blue, the "diss'd" kid, takes a 3/4 drive ratchet and upsides the other kids head, splitting it open. My dad and his assistant, pinned the assaulting kid down. A few of the other kids, whom they could trust, ran and got help. While pining the kid down, the kid tried to bite off the assistants ear. My dad, said, these kinds of things would happen fairly often.

[Danger Mouse]

8. A trio....of human garbage. What kind of horrible upbringing did they have...

to make them into bigoted monsters?

[iandhr]

9. This had got to stop

[laylah]

36. Those were the first words

that popped into my head when I read the headline! :cry:

Jenn

[Hepburn]

10. Gay is the new African American

I unfortunately recall the vicious conduct of the 50s and 60s when African Americans were working for equality. Deja vu.

[No Elephants]

24. New?

[madrchsod]

11. the school is for moderate or severe learning and behaivoral studentss

http://www.nassauboces.org/sped/school_aged/career_prep.htm

[Ex Lurker]

17. I'm coming around to the belief that some people don't belong in a school setting

the schools aren't equipped to handle them. At best they're a disruptive influence. At worst they're perpetrators of crimes like this. Cut our losses, cut them loose, and focus resources on the kids who can be helped and want to be helped.

[Le Taz Hot]

39. You can't.

The parents sue because you're discriminating against their little darlings. Sometimes they are clinically mentally challenged, sometimes they are clinically behaviorally challenged and sometimes they're just mini assholes. The end result is that, no matter how severely they disrupt your classroom, you are FORCED to spend 80% of your time on that ONE student while trying to eek out 20% of your time instructing everyone else. The other students feel cheated, the parents of the non-disruptive students feel cheated and the teacher is exhausted and frustrated.

[tblue37]

52. I have an article on my _Teacher, Teacher_ website about

how the most disruptive students in the classroom are now allowed to dominate in schools because teachers have been stripped of virtually all the authority they used to have to control and discipline the ones who acted up in class:

"The Inmates Are Running the Asylum"
http://www.teacherblue.homestead.com/inmates.html

[Nevernose]

60. It's a flaw with the ADA

Although well-intentioned and generally good, there are some unrealistic aspects to the ADA. In a school, for instance, if a kid acts up occasionally, he's treated as we've always treated such kids. Nowadays, however, if a kid repeatedly screws up, he's got a "behavioral disorder."

While such things can and do exist, 90% of the kids I've seen with behavioral disabilities (and hence have an IEP instead of a 504) have Circular Reasoning Disorder.

"What are the effects of his behavioral disorder?"
"It causes him to have bad behavior."
"So why does he have bad behavior?"
"Because he's got a behavior disorder."
"Is it possible that he doesn't have any disorder, that he's just poorly behaved?"
"No, because if a student is chronically misbehaved, they have a behavior disorder."

[awoke_in_2003]

16. a very sad k&r. nt

[johnnypneumatic]

18. in 7th and 8th grade, they gave me hell

no one, NO ONE!, no Teachers, no "friends", ever lifted a finger to help
once, one guy got caught, and the principal had us both sit in his office for a few hours
then he didn't do anything, just told us to go home
this was a boy I liked, we had almost been friends before, he lived just around the corner, who suddenly had turned against me... I didn't understand it.

they tripped me, humiliated me, called me "beer can" because when they tripped me they said I must be drunk
these were guys that were my friends in 6th grade
once the testosterone kicks in, they turn into monsters
and I didn't fight back, because I didn't understand what was happening, I didn't understand why my "friends" were doing it to me. I was afraid to hit them back because I didn't want to hurt them...
Oh, and they called me "queer", that was the word...
so, I can't accept the rehabilitation of the word queer
whenever I hear it, I hear them still

oh, and I'm not an effeminate stereotype, I was muscular and could have pretended to be hetero, if I had known I could have.

my 3 gay friends, who were not as masculine as me, they treated much worse...

but because I didn't reject my gay friends, they rejected me

so...it is especially painful that my supposed "friend", the fierce advocate, President Obama, fiercely defends all anti-gay laws, and doesn't lift a finger to help...
nothing has changed...
I didn't commit suicide...
no, I'm still here, wondering why my "friends" keep abusing me and wanting me to disappear...

[No Elephants]

25. I am so sorry you suffer and I am glad you did not commit suicide.

[johnnypneumatic]

29. yeah, suicide is stupid

and that would mean I let them beat me...I wouldn't give them that satisfaction, even though I had to fight "cosmic" deep depressions most of my life. Fortunately, I'm over that now. Yes, it does get better, but it may take until you are over forty years old :)

The funny thing is, I think what got me through, was my atheism and scientific detachment, and learning about natural selection. If I had been religious, and thought I deserved to go to hell, and everyone was right to hate me, I might have fallen. But conceiving of reality as survival of the fittest, I decided to let fate decide the outcome, rather than deliberately act to destroy myself.

Of course, I was always a cynic in the tradition of Diogenes "carrying a lamp in the daytime, looking for an honest man." and trusted my own judgment rather than believe what "authorities" said was true. Sometimes that was a lonely place to be, and I know why so many teenagers don't survive.

[slay]

26. It's a Hate Crime

a "bias attack"? makes it sound like they're trying to downplay it. wtf.

[JI7]

28. i think they should reveal the names and pics of these attackers

[Evasporque]

41. they did... here it is...

[myrna minx]

30. This has to stop! Lemme guess, we'll have to hear Tony Perkins' thoughts on this

for 'balance ' :grr:

[8 track mind]

31. how i wish i could have been on that bus

they'd have to get through me first.

[Enthusiast]

33. We need to turn this into a teaching moment.

Who would chose to be gay and be subjected to this abuse? The answer is no one would chose to be gay. It is not a choice. The gay is biologically predetermined and it cannot be cured by prayer. This should be understood by the right wing religious zealots. Would this kid chose to be hit and punched?

[spicegal]

35. What the hell is going on with the savagery of some of our young people?

They're learning hate somewhere, and it generally starts at home.

[Dappleganger]

38. They can be like a pack of wild animals on the hunt...

[Renew Deal]

45. These kids are likely known troublemakers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4576025&mesg_id=4576049

[Angry Dragon]

46. Some of it may start at home, but

I think it goes deeper or further than that

The church, the government, the media, the corporations are all also to blame.
Listen to the hate that comes from these different areas.
Politicians spew all kinds of hate against each other.
Churches preach that anyone that does not believe as they do is evil
and deserve to be punished.
Corporations try to dehumanize everyone.
The media spews hate 24/7.

The personality of this country has changed to a hate mentality
and no one in power is trying to do anything about it, if fact they may be
trying to encourage it.

[Dappleganger]

37. As soon as our boys hit middle, this shit began...

being called gay (they're not) and bullied, regularly. Thankfully our little family sticks together and their sibs came to their defense (on the bus and at school). Thankfully our boys grew tall quickly and eventually were mostly left alone. Not everyone is so lucky.

[johnnypneumatic]

48. Homophobia doesn't just hurt gay kids...

it hurts everyone.

[Dappleganger]

57. It really does.

They are not "those" children...they are OUR children!!

[Evasporque]

40. And the bus driver drove on....? and the "Matron"...?

What the Fuck...these ADULTS were on the bus and did nothing for weeks?

WTF!

[Thor_MN]

42. Conservative intolerance working it's way into schools

The only "Trickle Down" that actually works.

[MineralMan]

44. This crap has got to be stopped.That's one area where

"zero tolerance" should be fully implemented. The answer is simple. First bullying offense for any reason should result in a suspension. Second offense should result in automatic expulsion from all the schools in the district. Let the parents find a private school for their rotten kids.

Any violent bullying should result in arrest and prosecution.

[felix_numinous]

47. Hate has to be taught.

This culture has incrementally become more violent in my lifetime, there are many people to emulate, with high unemployment, and a failing economy, this will get worse.

I think many people are as deeply disturbed by the targeting of one minority group, the gay community, so I hope it will result in activism to protect and support them, and a push for more punitive measures against school assault and battery.

[BreweryYardRat]

51. Execute them. n/t

[TexasObserver]

54. recommend

[Odin2005]

55. This is how Homophobia hurts EVERYONE!

I'm straight, but I was bullied because some people thought I was gay.

[TK421]

56. I remember riding the bus...mostly in silence because if you didn't behave

got out of your seat,or tried the shit these bastards tried the driver would have ripped you a new one. This is such fucking bullshit!

[Barack_America]

58. "bias attack"? Sounds like a hate crime to me.

Whether the attackers were correct in their assumptions or not.

[and-justice-for-all]

59. The boys parents should press full charges against the hostile youths

and their parents. SUE SUE SUE, and they might as well include the school in that lawsuit too.